Christmas In Konoha
by HolyDragonsEye
Summary: Everyone gets together at Sasuke's to have some Christmas fun. What could possible happen when a bunch of teens are all packed together in one place with nothing to do? SasuNaru ShikaGaa
1. Planning

**I know it's a little early maybe for a Christmas fic, but I thought I'd post it now anyway. I've been working on it for a while, and it's finally (almost) Christmas!  
Just as a heads up, Naruto and his friends are in their late teens, Sasuke has returned to Konoha and everyone is happy. It's meant to be a cute/humorous fic, and I've tweaked some things around to make it fit with plot. I might add some other couples in here as well, though I'm not sure yet. I've planned this to be about 12 chapters long. I'll see how it goes. Well, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer (for all the chapters): I DO NOT OWN NARUTO! If I did, I assure you it would be rated R.**

* * *

Shikamaru looked over at his friends' faces, a tired expression on his own.

They were trying to decide what to do during the winter break that was coming up. They wouldn't be having any missions for two weeks straight and so they figured it would be nice to have some things planned.

The lazy ninja did his best to not get into the conversation. Whatever they planned was good enough for him.

"Okay, hey! What about a huge sleepover party? Just the whole bunch of us?" Kiba yelled out over the increasing noise. When no one heard him, Akamaru started barking to get their attention.

Shikamaru just sighed and put his head on his hand, elbow propped up against the table they were sitting at.

Kiba repeated his proposal and everyone went quiet.

"That sounds great!" Sakura said a big smile across her face.

"Yeah, but where would it be?" Neiji pointed out. "Not even the Hyuuga house is big enough to fit all of us _and_ everyone else in the household isn't that right Hinata?"

"Y-yes, that's right," Hinata said, looking down and blushing suddenly being caught at the centre of the discussion.

"Well, can't we just put our money together and get some place for one week?" Kiba asked.

"Kiba, not everyone has enough spending money for us to be able to rent some place out." Ino said with exasperation. "Plus, I want to save some money on presents." She smirked and looked over at Sasuke. "I know exactly what you all want."

"Not so fast, Ino-pig! _I'll_ be getting the best presents, just you wait!" Sakura cried out, standing up with her fist clenched.

_Girls are so troublesome_, Shikamaru thought to himself as Sakura and Ino continued to argue.

"Hey! Hey! What about Sasuke-teme's place? There's enough room over there!" Naruto cut in, silencing the two girls. "Well, if that's okay with you…" He added, looking at Sasuke.

Everyone's heads turned to face Sasuke, waiting for an answer.

"Hn. Whatever," he said expressionlessly.

"Yeah! Awesome! This is gonna a blast!" Naruto shouted, jumping up in the air.

Shikamaru closed his eyes and continued to listen to the ongoing discussion as they were going over the final details. They decided the time and the place and the food and what ever else would be needed for a party. By this time, all Shikamaru wanted was to fall asleep. _Oh man….how much longer?_

"Okay, so how many people do we have? I mean, who can actually come?" Sakura asked. She had been given a notepad to write the details on and was now looking expectantly at everyone.

"I can."

"Yeah, same here."

"You can count me in!"

"I'm not missing _this_! You'll see me for sure!"

"Wait, hold on! Slow down…So that's Shino, Neiji, Ino-pig, and Kiba…okay, who else?" Sakura asked, frantically writing down the names of the people. "Alright, so I think that's everyone; Shino, Neiji, Ino-pig, Kiba, Ten-Ten, Hinata, Lee, Choji, Naruto, Sasuke and myself."

"But that's only eleven people, who's missing?" Naruto asked, looking over Sakura's shoulder at the list in front of her.

"That's me, I'm coming…" Shikamaru said with a yawn. He had almost dozed off when he realized his name hadn't been called.

"Cool, so that's everyone. Anything we're forgetting?' Sakura asked, looking over her notepad at the things they had decided on.

"Let's invite Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro." Naruto said with a grin on his face.

Hearing this, Shikamaru's ears perked up, and his heart started beating faster.

"Yeah, that sound's good, I don't mind." Kiba said. Everyone else nodded in consent, and then looked at Sasuke who clearly seemed bored out of his mind.

"Sure," he replied in monotone.

"Awesome! I can't wait, this is gonna be great!" Naruto shouted, and everyone else joined in, talking about the days to come.

Shikamaru sighed again and stood up. He walked outside the room they had been using from the Ninja Academy and made his way down the hall and out the doors into the bitter cold. Inside, his mind was racing. The news of the sand ninja coming for the sleepover had made him wide awake in anticipation. He was actually started to look forward to this now.

* * *

It was the day of the sleepover and to Sasuke's annoyance and amusement; Naruto was the first one there. He was grinning at him, standing under the doorframe, the snow falling gently behind him.

"Dobe, you're three hours early, go home," Sasuke said, closing the door.

"No! Teme, wait!" the blonde yelled, stopping the door from closing. He had dropped the bag he was holding and it made a jingling sound. "I thought I'd help you set up and decorate."

"What?" Sasuke asked confused, stalling his efforts.

"Well, its Christmas, we need lights! I went to everyone's house and asked for decorations and lights. Look," he said, pointing behind him at the hour boxes lying in the falling snow. "I borrowed enough to make your house the brightest in all of Konoha!" He started chuckling to himself.

He then fell silent as he didn't get any reply from the raven. His blue eyes stared. One minute…Two minutes…Three minutes….Four minutes…

"Sasuke…" he said simply.

"What?" the raven asked, glad that the silence had finally stopped.

"Are you gonna let me in or not?"

Sasuke blinked, and then smirked. "What if I say no?"

Naruto's face frowned in frustration, "Teme!"

"Is that all you have to say?" the raven asked, as he opened the door wider to let the blonde in. He helped bring the boxes inside and set them aside.

Once inside, the blonde put his hands on his hips and looked around, taking in the setting. "Hmm…alright! C'mon, let's get started!" He had a big grin plastered across his face and he started opening the boxes. Within five minutes, Sasuke's room was piled with the various decorations.

Grumbling to himself at the mess in front of him, Sasuke grudgingly started putting up the decorations as the blonde directed.

"Um, Sasuke, where's your tree?" the blonde asked after about a half hour, looking around.

The raven stared at the blonde blankly before answering. "I don't have one, dobe."

Ignoring the insult, Naruto's eyes opened wide. "Whaaat?! No tree?! You're such a teme! Wait here, I'll be right back!" He walked htowards the front door hastily putting on his coat. He waved and went through the door and out into the steadily falling snow.

Sasuke stared at the door in confusion at the sudden outburst from the blonde. He then shrugged and started putting up the lights.

He was really looking forward to this, despite his outward appearance and reactions to everything. He blushed at the thought of spending whole nights with a certain blonde. This was the first time he felt so excited about a social gathering – or a party, rather. The raven looked up at his clock, wondering when Naruto would return after what ever it was he was doing.

Fifteen minutes later, there was a loud banging on the front door. Sasuke got up and opened it to find a panting blonde and behind him, a fairly large evergreen tree.

"Naruto, wha-?" Sasuke began, but the blonde stepped inside, still breathing hard and dragging the tree along with him.

Sasuke made sure to brush off the snow before any of it made a mess inside his once-clean living room.

"Okay! So, it got the tree from…uh…well, never mind where…let's just say it required a lot of running, ha ha." He grinned.

Sasuke made a mental note to make sure to lock every entrance in case of…certain enemies…for the night.

"I'll put the tree up, and then we can go outside and light everything up!"

"Hn."

Two hours later, the whole estate was lit up and emitted a festive spirit. The blonde and the raven sat down, tired, and looked around the house in content. They had lit up every part of the place they could get their hands on.

And then, when they were done, Sasuke had made sure the blonde helped clean up the mess he had made. He had grabbed his hand and pulled him along with him to clean up. That gentle and warm touch had made both their hearts flutter.

They had stared at each other for several long moments before their faces turned red and they looked away.

Sitting there now alone, side-by-side, created an uncomfortable silence between the two. Unknown to each other, their hearts beat strongly, yearning for the intimate company of the other.

Both of them were relieve when the doorbell rand. Sasuke got up to open it and he found Kiba and Shino standing there with their belongings. He welcomed them inside, and they walked in, clearly impressed by the excessive amount of decorations.

"Wow, Sasuke," Kiba said, surprised. "I didn't know you were so much into decorating."

"I'm not."

"Huh? Then what's with all--"

"Its all my doing!' Naruto exclaimed. "Sasuke-teme helped, though."

"Well, it certainly is something! I wasn't sure if I was at the right place or not until Shino reminded me about all the ornaments you took."

"Heh heh, yepp!" Naruto grinned, scratching the back of his head. "I had to make sure this was as festive as possible. I mean, it's the holidays!"

"Yeah, you got that right! Oh," Kiba walked over to the door and opened it when the bell rang.

"Hey everyone!" came a familiar voice. "We're here!"

Sakura, Ino, Tenten and Hinata stepped inside, bringing in some snow with them.

"Oh, wow, this place looks wonderful! Good job with the decoration, Sasuke!" Ino smiled sweetly and batter her eyes, looking at the raven.

"News flash Ino; Naruto did the decorating." Kiba smirked, watching the smile drop from Ino's face, as she looked away in embarrassment.

"So that's why you stole my decorations, huh?" Sakura flashed a menacing grin before hitting the dobe on the head.

"Hey, watch it! I said I'll give them back!" Naruto shouted as he ran away from the pink-haired kunoichi. Everyone laughed at the blonde's antics, and the newly arrived people put down their bags in the corner of the room, waiting for the rest of their group to arrive.

After a few minutes, the doorbell indicated the arrival of Shikamaru and Choji, who was munching away at a bag of BBQ chips. Following them came Neiji and Lee, who was ecstatic at seeing the fully decorated house, and then came the three from the sand.

Shikamaru looked up at the arrival of the redhead and felt his face tint red as the sand's eyes paused on him as he took in the surroundings.

"Good job Naruto!," Temari commented as she put her bag down and took off her coat.

"Thanks Temari. How was your trip?" Naruto asked in response.

"Not too bad; just cold." Kankuro answered leaving behind a silence.

"Hey, teme, let's show everyone their rooms!" Naruto exclaimed jumping up in excitement. The blonde had already been given a tour when they had been decorating.

"Sure." Sasuke led the way up the stairs after everyone had picked up their bags. They went down a large corridor that connected to another section of the large estate.

"Okay, so I thought the biggest room can go to the girls; there's room enough for six, so you'll probably have a little extra space." Sasuke indicated to the last door facing opposite them. The girls went in and dropped their bags inside as Sasuke continued.

"This room here," he pointed to the door on his left. "is one of the bigger ones so Naruto and I thought Shikamaru, Gaara and Kankuro can stay there." He looked at the lazy ninja questioningly.

"Fine with me," Shikamaru answered, his heart beating frantically.

"S then the next room," he indicated one door down the left, "and the one across from it," he pointed accordingly. "Has space for three people each, so Neiji, Lee, Choji, Shino and Kiba, you guys can decide what room you want."

"Hold on, what about Naruto?" Neiji asked, realizing that the blonde's name had not been called.

"I'm bunking with Sasuke-teme." Naruto said, grinning wildly.

"No, dobe, you're on the floor." Sasuke said with a smirk, watching the dobe's face frown in frustration.

"Teme! We'll see about that!"

As the two continued arguing – well it was mostly Naruto who was ranting – the rest of the ninjas made their way to their rooms and set up their things for their week-and-a-half stay.

Shikamaru stepped inside, following Gaara and Kankuro and took in the layout of the room. There were three singular beds, with the heads of each against one of the three walls, forming a triangle. Gaara and Kankuro took the ones facing each other, leaving the one opposite the door for Shikamaru. He didn't mind much, as the window gave him a great view of the outside. Now he was certain he would enjoy his stay.

In the room adjacent to the lazy ninja, Choji, Neiji and Lee were organizing their bags. It was no surprise that the chubbiest of the three had brought along a bog solely full of snacks and treats. Lee was sure the bag would be empty by the end of the fourth day and so, to prevent hat, he tried to convince his room partner to take it easy on the snacks. Of course, in order to do so, he had to resort to his lecture about youth which he had memorized. Neiji watched in silent amusement as he set up his belongings. He hoped Lee wouldn't do the same to him.

Choji paid him no attention and briskly walked out of the room, knowing instantly that this was going to be a very, very long week. He walked across the corridor and entered the room opposite where Kiba and Shino were fighting over the beds.

"C'mon Shino! That's the only way I'll be able to eavesdrop on _them_." He pointed to the left side of the wall where the bed was. Choji sweatdropped; on the other side of the wall was the girls' room.

"I'd rather you not. I need that side to stay as much away from the sunlight as possible." Shino nodded his head towards the window. "The light agitates the beetles. And from the position of this room, obviously your side will be under the most sunlight."

"My side? _My side?!_ Why you--" Akamaru started barking frantically now and Choji stepped outside the room again to stay away from the impending danger.

Meanwhile, in the largest of the five rooms, the girls were happily sorting out their belongings. All of them had agreed on what beds each of them would take. There were four single and one bunks bed. Tenten and Hinata took the bunk bed and the other three girls adjusted accordingly. Presently, Ino and Sakura were arguing about the presents they had bought for a certain raven-haired ninja.

"Just you wait Ino-pig! Once Sasuke sees what I got him, he'll automatically declare his undying love for me!" Sakura exclaimed, and then donned a glazed expression as she played out the scenario in her mind.

She was brought back to reality when Ino snapped her fingers in front of her face. "He wouldn't do that, Sakura, because he'll have me in his arms as soon as he opens my present!"

"In your dreams! Obviously my present will be the one to steal his heart away!"

"Ha! In a million years! Mine will--"

"Would you two stop it already?!" The two girls turned to look at Tenten who had her arms crossed and a flush expression on her face. "You two are always--"

"ARRRGGG!" Tenten was cut off as a scream rang through the house.

The girls glanced at each other curiously and walked out to see who had screamed. What they saw made them drop to the floor out of laughter. The other boys who had poked their heads out were in a similar state.

Naruto was standing clad only in his boxer shorts and sock, with his pants down at the ankles, wrapped in rope and shivering.

"W-what the hell was t-that?" the blonde asked someone standing inside his doorframe.

Sasuke stepped out with smirk. "It's your fault for being a nosy dobe."

Naruto gave him a confused look.

"It's not nice to look inside other peoples' closets!" Sasuke said bluntly, though still bearing a smirk on his lips.

"W-well it's not nice to set stupid booby traps for everything either! Teme! I bet you have some deep, dark secret that you're hiding in your closet!" Naruto attempted to point towards the Uchiha but was only able to lift his finger with the rope around him. Then, frustrated, he hopped back inside the room, pushing past the raven, grumbling to himself.

Everyone else who had watched the scene was still chuckling softly to themselves as they went back inside their own rooms.

Sasuke sighed and turned around to head back in. His cheeks were burning and he was thankful no body was around to see the pink tint his face had acquired.

Naruto was busy trying to untie the rope around him and at the same time trying to get his pants back onto cover his green and orange frog covered boxers.

Seeing the blonde like that sent a wave of arousal throughout the raven and he was sure his face was scarlet by now. He rushed into the private bathroom attached to the room and shut the door behind him.

He stayed there until his heartbeat settled down and his reflection wasn't red anymore. Then he washed his face with cold water and stepped out again.

His stoic expression briefly turned into a suppressed smile as he tried to stop himself from laughing at the sight before him. Naruto was still in the same position, only more tied up and knotted than before.

Composing himself once again, a smirk played at his lips as he walked up to the blonde.

"Need some help?" he asked, clearly trying to belittle the dobe.

"Of course not! I can do it myself, y'know," Naruto grumbled and continued his feeble attempts.

Sasuke waited, hands in his pockets, until the blonde looked up after a while with a defeated expression.

"O-okay, so I guess I could use _some_ help."

Smirk still firmly on his kips, Sasuke started towards the blonde and worked at untying the knots. He made sure to get a feel of as much of the blonde as possible while doing so.

"So, what _do_ you have in that closet?" Naruto asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

"Nothing that would interest you."

"Yeah, right, and that's why it's so heavily guarded," Naruto rolled his eyes. "You're just making me more curious, y'know?"

Suddenly, Sasuke's face donned a sinister expression as he looked straight into the blonde's azure eyes. The blonde gulped and felt a shiver run down his spine.

Then Sasuke spoke, his voice sending fear into the dobe. "That closet holds the tools I need for my…hobby. I can't achieve me…goals...if my victims are screaming in terror and fear. That closet is out-of-bounds to everyone but me, got it?! It's also really dirty in there with the dried up blo—paint."

At hearing this, Naruto could feel the blood draining from his face. He sat there for the remainder of the time in silence, not daring to anger Sasuke any more. He didn't want to be a victim of Sasuke's…hobby…and end up a dead corpse in his closet.

"There, you're free now," Sasuke said casually as he stood up. This made the blonde jump and he was sure he'd nearly had a heart attack.

"You should put your pants back on, dress up, and go downstairs. Everyone else is probably already there." Sasuke said as he made his way towards the bathroom again.

"W-what about you? A-aren't you coming?" the blonde asked as he pulled on his pants.

The raven looked back at the dobe, with a sly smile. "I need to…finish something else first." He saw the panicked expression on his friend's face as the blonde quickly put on his shirt and darted out the room.

Sasuke closed the bathroom door behind him and started laughing. That was priceless! The look on the blonde's face replayed in the raven's mind as he tried to hold in his laughter. The dobe's expressions were so cute! _Cute?! CUTE?!_ Did he really say – think – that Naruto, of all people, was _cute?!_

Well, actually, he did. But he couldn't admit that. He cursed to himself; Uchiha's don't use the word cute, they only take what's hot and sexy, damn it! He sighed, his barely controlled laughter finally dying down.

It had been necessary to do that. He couldn't risk the blonde sneaking a peek inside his closet. He blushed, thinking of the contents he had in there. Inside were his memories of Naruto; all the moments they had shared together.

He couldn't bare to think what would happen if Naruto realized the feelings that he held for him. Surely, he would get rejected and that would mean the end of their friendship.

Sasuke walked over to the mirror and regarded his reflection with an alien feeling. He turned around, not wanting to look at the one in the mirror any longer. He sighed as he opened the stepped out to head back down.

* * *

Entering the living room, he was greeted with a bit shout of –

* * *

**And that's that! So, what did you think? If you happen to spot any mistakes in spelling and/or grammer, please let me know and I'll fix it as soon as I can.  
I have until chapter 4 written out so I just have to type and edit. I'm sure I'll be posting them soon enough, but I'm not sure how fast the rest of them will go. **

**Oh yeah! If you don't already know, I'm also currently working on Broken Shards, another SasuNaru. So be sure to check that out, too!**


	2. Pranks and Revenge

**Hey everyone! Here's chapter two for you! Things start to get a bit more interesting and comedic.  
Thanks to al who commented and happy (late) birthday to you Hatake Tsughi!**

**Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

"PIZZA!" Kiba shouted. Akamaru barked loudly.

"No way!" We should all make something together since it's the holidays." Ino said as she hit the dog ninja across the head.

"Exactly, it's the holidays! That's the reason why we should order pizza!" Kiba growled.

Sasuke glanced over at the blonde who was sitting in the corner, still pale from before. The rave smirked and deliberately sat beside him. He felt the dobe stiffen.

Glancing around, he saw that everyone was sitting or standing, forming a circle around Ino and Kiba who were in the middle of the room, still arguing.

Neiji and Gaara were talking quietly in another corner, Shikamaru looking in their direction as he listened to the conversation between Choji, Shino, Tenten, and Sakura. Meanwhile, Temari, Lee and Kankuro were deep in conversation, discussing something else. Hinata was the only one paying any attention to the two in the middle, trying to calm their slowly boiling anger.

Sasuke felt a stab of jealousy as he saw Hinata sneak looks in the dobe's direction.

"Aren't you going to argue about having ramen for dinner?" Sasuke casually asked the blonde.

"I don't want any," he replied quietly.

The raven raised his eyebrows in mock surprise and turned to look at the blonde. There was sweat running down his forehead and he was still a bit pale. Feeling guilty, the raven figured he would have to fix this. Leaning closer to the blonde, he said in a voice only audible to the dobe: "It was a joke."

Naruto, who had been as stiff as a board, looked into Sasuke's eyes, confused, and upon seeing the mischief hidden in those dark orbs, he inflated, his face flushing in clear anger.

"WHAAAT?! Naruto shouted, grabbing everyone's attention. "You'll die for that, teme!" He stood up and ran after the raven who was already fleeing out the door; he knew it was best to wait this one our rather than fight back.

The remaining ninja watched on as the two ninjas fled the scene in a Tom and Jerry-like way. They winced as they heard the loud bangs and screams that ensued.

"Ha ha ha, what happened now?"

"I bet Sasuke did something."

"Or it could just be Naruto being a dobe again…"

Everyone laughed at the last comment, and then Gaara went after them.

"I'll go see what's wrong," he said, walking out the door.

"I'll come, too," Shikamaru said, "watching those two arguing is troublesome." He jerked his head towards Ino and Kiba, and then followed after the red-head.

They found Naruto shouting angrily and banging on a door which Sasuke was obviously on the other side of.

_So troublesome_, Shikamaru thought as he and Gaara tried to get the blonde to tell them what happened and calm the dobe down. When it was finally safe for the raven to come out, Naruto was huffing in anger and his face was still flushed.

The raven apologized, surprisingly, and the blonde grudgingly forgave him; he found it very difficult to stay mad at his crush.

On their way back to the others, Shikamaru quietly thanked the blonde.

"Huh? What for?" he asked, confused.

"For rooming me with…him," Shikamaru whispered, a blush creeping up his face. Naruto was the only on whom he had told of his feelings for a certain red-haired shinobi.

"Oh, that? No problem!" Naruto grinned, and then added quietly, "It helped me to get roomed with teme." He eyed the raven in front of him, and then looked down at his feet. He felt it was obvious that nothing would happen between the two. Naruto knew that his love would forever stay unrequited.

Shikamaru saw the depressed look on the blonde's face. He wanted to say something to make him feel better, but he wasn't sure what. He had a suspicion that the raven held similar feelings for the blonde, but he didn't want to get Naruto's hopes up just incase he was wrong. So, they made their way back to the others in silence.

In the end, they had all settled for ordering takeout; they were starving and no one felt like cooking anything. Once the food had arrived and they were full to the brim, one by one they all headed to bed since it was getting pretty late.

Shikamaru changed and lay down on his bed with his arms crossed behind his head. From the corner of his eye, he saw Kankuro falling into a deep slumber and Gaara sitting quietly on his bed, leaning against the headboard.

Once Naruto had changed, he waited on the bed for Sasuke to finish in the bathroom. Naruto looked around the room trying to determine where he would be sleeping because he was _not_ going to sleep on the floor!

When Sasuke was done, he came out, wearing a white t-shirt and boxers. He noticed Naruto sitting on the bed, apparently waiting for him. "What do you want, dobe? Go to sleep."

"In case you haven't noticed, there's only one bed, and I'm not sleeping on the floor!" Naruto said, pouting.

"Well, neither am I."

"…"

"Naruto, the bed is huge."

"…"

"So stop hogging all the space and squish over; we're sharing."

"…huh?"

"We're _sharing_, dobe!" Sasuke was now getting irritated.

"What?! I don't wanna share with you! I'm gonna get your chicken-butt hair germs!" Naruto shouted.

"…what?" Sasuke stared, dumbfounded. Naruto really was an idiot.

"Yeah…then tomorrow I'll wake up and have chicken-butt hair like you do!" the blonde whined.

Sasuke was oh so tempted to argue back. But he was also pretty tired. Hmmm fight back or get some sleep? Both sounded so good…

"Ughh, Naruto, you're the world's biggest dobe." Sasuke grumbled as he got into bed. "Now, I'm going to sleep. Do whatever you want, just don't disturb me."

The raven closed his eyes and did his best to ignore the blonde's grumbling. After a while, Naruto finally gave up and got under the covers, "Fine! But if I wake up with chiken-butt or even duck-butt hair then I blame you!"

And with that, the two of them slowly fell into a deep slumber, each of their minds dreaming of the other.

Shikamaru had head the rumours of the sand ninja's sleepless nights, but had never believed them until he noticed, at three o'clock in the morning, that Gaara was still awake, and was sitting by the window, letting the moonlight illuminate his features. He himself had woken up because his throat was unusually dry.

Silently, the lazy ninja got up and took a sip of water from the glass on his bedside table. He noticed Gaara glance at had before turning back to gaze at the moon.

"Can't sleep?" the lazy ninja asked quietly, mindful of the still sleeping Kankuro on the other side of the room.

"No," came an equally quiet answer.

Shikamaru got up and took a seat beside the sane ninja. "Is there something the matter?"

He wasn't sure if he should have been asking, but he pushed his luck anyway.

"…Things in my mind…" the redhead mumbled.

Shikamaru turned to look at him sharply; he had said _in my mind_, not_ on my mind_. "When was the last time you had any sleep?"

Gaara finally turned to look at the lazy ninja, his eyes scrutinizing the young man. "About a fortnight ago," he turned to face the moonlight again. "Why?"

Shikamaru bit back the urge to say 'because I care about you'. It wasn't the right him yet and he wasn't sure how Gaara would react. "You should try to get some sleep."

The redhead looked at the boy beside him with a curious expression. "That's not so easy to do; my mind is haunted. I can't escape from it."

Silence fell between them as they resorted to continue looking out the window.

"Try to sleep, if anything happens I'll be right here," Shikamaru turned to the sand ninja with a determined look. "I'll take away your sleepless nights."

"No," the reply was soft. "Losing your sleep is not worth it. This is my problem." Gaara turned to look at the raven-haired ninja and he couldn't help but feel the heat rush to his cheeks; he hadn't realized how mysteriously beautiful his eyes where.

Shikamaru sighed, still looking at the redhead. _So troublesome_. "Then I guess I'll stay up with you."

Gaara blinked at the simple statement. No one had ever said that before. They always told him to go to sleep or tried to pry into his mind. This was different. This was new. He felt something light up inside him as he realized that this was what he wanted.

He gave the lazy ninja a suspicious look as he looked back out the window. He seemed to genuinely mean what he said. Gaara looked out at the heavenly night sky before he leaned in towards the wall of his left side and slowly closed his eyes. He didn't know when he fell asleep, but he was grateful for it; it was the best night of sleep he had had in a long time.

Shikamaru looked beside him at the sleeping redhead. A smile played at his lips as he looked with more detail at the sleeping boy's peaceful face. It had taken a while, but Gaara's mind finally been overcome with long-deprived sleep.

Silently, he got up, taking the sleeping ninja into his arms. He then quietly walked over to the sand's bed and laid him down on it, covering him with the warm blanket.

He leaned in towards the innocent boy, his lips hovering above the others. Oh, how he wanted to capture those lips with his own, taste them, feel them, marks them as his.

He stood up straight again and took his place by the window. As much as he wanted to feel those lips against his, he couldn't. That would only hurt him even more when Gaara finally rejected him. And if he ever would kiss the redhead, it would be the ninja's full consent.

When Gaara woke up the next morning, he felt refreshed and full of energy. He sat up and looked around. He couldn't help but let his lips curl into a smile: Shikamaru was sitting by the window, with his head propped up with his arm on the window sill, fast asleep.

He must have fallen asleep, Gaara thought to himself. Then, struck with an amusing thought, he got up, grabbing his sand gourd, and walked up to the sleeping young man.

Carefully controlling the sand, he brought a few grains of it up to the lazy ninja's nose. Shikamaru frowned due to the disturbance and subconsciously wiggled his nose to rid of the irritation. Then, suddenly, his eyes flew open and his hand moved to cover his face as he let out a loud sneeze.

Seeing the odd grains of sand in front of his face, he waved his hand frantically to make them go away. Gaara, who was watching silently with an amused expression and a blush on his face, let the sand back into his gourd.

"Good morning," he said sheepishly as Shikamaru turned to look at him.

Shikamaru's initial anger and frustration changed into a content smile as he realized who had woken him.

"Good morning," he replied. "You're up already? I thought you'd have wanted to sleep in a bit longer." He stood up and stretched his stiff muscles.

"I'm a light sleeper," Gaara mumbled. He looked over at the still sleeping form of his sibling. Shikamaru followed his gaze. "Kankuro, on the other hand, can stay asleep until well past noon."

Shikamaru smiled. "Well, let's get ready then; it's already nine. I'm sure Sasuke's already up."

"Shikamaru," Gaara stopped him. "I wanted to thank you for last night. That meant a lot."

The lazy ninja smiled. "It's no problem. Your sleep is more important than anything else."

Gaara felt his cheeks go red at this and he was glad the lights weren't on. With the comfortable silence between them, the two of them took turned using the common bathroom and finally get ready.

Shikamaru left their room after he finished and silently made his way down the hall to where Sasuke and Naruto's room was.

He opened the door and took a peak inside to confirm his suspicions about the early-rising raven. The sight of the room lit his face up into a smile.

Naruto and Sasuke were both cuddled up on the raven's bed, fast asleep. Sasuke had his arms wrapped protectively around the blonde, and the latter was snuggled up beside him in response to the touch.

Deciding to let them be, the lazy ninja closed the door and turned to head the stairs.

"AAACHOOO!"

Shikamaru froze in his tracks. He then turned around and ran towards the course of the cry, his heart beating frantically with worry as he realized the sound had come from his room.

He barged in and looked around, trying to locate the disturbance. What he found shocked him to say the least.

Kankuro was underneath his bundle of sheets, waving his arms around his head. Gaara stood near his bed, his arms crossed and a _smile_ on his face.

Shikamaru did a double take and then let out a ring of laughter. Apparently, Gaara had just tried to wake up his brother in the same manner he had with Shikamaru.

He continued to chuckle to himself as he watched the siblings' argument unfold before him.

It was a rare occasion when – or _if_ – Gaara ever laughed. It was a good change and apparently Kankuro thought so, too, because after a few minutes he had calmed down and joined in the fun.

"I have to admit," he said. "That was a good one." And as an afterthought, he added, "You better watch your back; I'll make sure to get my revenge!"

He reluctantly got out of bed and made his way towards the bathroom to get ready. Shikamaru could hear the others starting to get up as well. An idea struck him and he motioned for the redhead to follow him.

They walked up to a certain Uchiha's bedroom. The lazy ninja put a finger to his lips and quietly opened the door.

He raven and the blonde were in the same position as before; cuddled up beside each other. The lazy and conniving ninja pointed towards the two in bed. In turn, the redhead gave a curt nod and Shikamaru saw the sand making its way over to the other side of the room.

Shikamaru knew that this was the type of thing that Kiba would most likely do. He smirked inwardly at the beating he knew the dog owner would get for this. When Gaara was ready, he took a hold of the dazed out genius and pulled him outside the bedroom. Their skin burned with the contact.

"Wait, there's one more thing missing," Shikamaru said, and he walked off.

He was back a few minutes later with a very confused looking Kiba who had clearly just gotten out of bed. Gaara nodded again, this time a smile playing at his lips. He held up his hand counting down: 5…4…3…2…

"Aaaachooo!"

"Arrgh!"

"What the hell?"

"Dobe! Was this your idea of a joke? And what the hell are you doing? Get off me!"

"It's not my fault! I think something just went up my nose!" his voice was hysterical.

"You – what?! What do you mean something up your nose? Stop being dobe, dobe!"

"Shut up teme! I'm serious1 I never just _randomly_ start sneezing, y'know?"

"You're just being paranoid. Now do you mind getting _off_ my bed?" there was a pause. "Look what you did, dobe!"

"Huh? I didn't do anything!"

"Oh, sure, then where did all this sand come from?" Sasuke snapped sarcastically.

By now, Shikamaru and Gaara were trying very hard not to let out a laugh. Kiba, on the hand was just about to burst out of laughter as he continued to listen to the argument between the two ninja from the other side of closed door.

"What? Me? Why would I bring sand into my own bedroom?"

"I don't know! But I guess that's what made me sneeze. It tickled my nose!" he let out a whine.

"Whatever, this must have been someone's idea of a joke," Sasuke muttered.

"Ahahaha!" Kiba had started laughing now.

"Who's that?" Sasuke sounded annoyed.

Next minute, the door was opened and there stood the blonde and raven clad in their pajamas and sporting a very bad attitude.

"Hahaha, oh that was priceless!" Kiba doubled over, trying to control his laughter.

Unknown to him, Naruto and Sasuke exchanged a look.

"We are so getting you back for that!" Naruto said.

"What? But it wasn't--" his laugher had died down now.

"Just watch your step, dog breath; you might never know what may happen."

"Guys, I said it wasn't me!" It was--" he looked beside him, but no one was there. _Oh shit._

"Who? Who was it? You're imaginary dog friend? I don't see anyone."

"Leave it dobe, after I'm through with hi m, he won't be saying another word," Sasuke said, his voice laced with anger.

The door closed and Kiba could faintly hear the two arguing about who would get their revenge first.

_Oh, that's it! Those two are done for,_ Kiba thought as he planned out what to do to get his revenge against Shikamaru and Gaara.

One by one, everyone got dressed and headed for the kitchen, their stomachs grumbling. It was a surprise for everyone when they reached the doorway of the kitchen to find that breakfast was already ready and waiting for them.

"Oh, that smells like heaven!" Kiba said as he and Akamaru waltzed in.

"Yeah, it better smell like heaven to you after all our hard work," Ino said as she went over to get the toast.

"How long have you been up? This must have taken a while," Kiba asked as he joined the others at the table. He distinctly noticed that both Shikamaru and Gaara refused to meet his eyes.

"Since about six I guess," Sakura said, pouring tea into their cups. "I heard some loud noises and shouting upstairs; what happened?" She looked pointedly at a certain blonde who was pigging out at the food on his plate. Naruto seemed to not notice this.

"Some _mutt_ decided it was a good idea to pour sand all over my bed, and it made him," Sasuke motioned towards the blonde. "Sneeze."

"Naruto sneezed because the sand was on _your_ bed?" Neiji asked, taking a bite out of his piece of toast.

Sasuke had to work hard to school his expression and stop the blush from spreading any further. "Something like that…" He mumbled, looking down at his tea.

"It wasn't me!" Kiba cried out. "Those two," he pointed at the two who had woken him up, "are the ones who did it! I was just an innocent bystander."

Everyone looked over at Shikamaru and Gaara.

"You expect us to believe they're the ones who did it?" Shino asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Next time you want to frame someone, Kiba, pick a more likely candidate, and do it properly," said an annoyed Neiji.

Everyone let out a chuckle and before Kiba could get any more worked up about it, Naruto spoke up: "What's the plan today, guys?"

"Well, I was hoping to spend some of the morning wrapping some presents. I didn't get a change to get finish them before," Sakura explained.

"Yeah, same here," Temari added. "I didn't get much of a chance since we had to leave in a hurry."

"Okay, what about everyone else?"

"Anyone up for a game of Shogi?" Shikamaru asked, his head propped up on his hand, and leaning on the table.

"Shogi? This early? You've got to be kidding!"

"I'll play," Gaara said suddenly, looking beside him at the lazy ninja.

"You're _both_ weird! Playing Shogi so early in the morning just makes me sleepy," Kiba grumbled, apparently having forgotten about the morning prank.

"Kiba, it's only nine in the morning…" Ino said, exasperated.

"Exactly! And it's the holidays; that's pretty early if you ask me."

"What about everyone else?" Neiji asked, ignoring Kiba's grumbling.

"How about a snowball fight? The storm's over and there's tons of snow!"

"Naruto, it's _cold_ outside. I, for one, don't want to stop out there," Ino said, shuddering at the thought of spending the day outside.

"That's what coats are for. Everyone knows that!"

"I know what coats are for, but I don't want to go out!"

"I think it would be nice. We can think of it as training," Kankuro joined in.

"In that case, I guess I'll come too."

"Hmm, yeah, count me in."

"Awesome! So, that's Kankuro, Neiji, and Shino, what about you guys?" Naruto nodded in the direction of where Lee, Shoji and Tenten were sitting.

The three of them nodded and the blonde gave a huge in return. Then, he looked beside him and nudged the brooding raven-haired boy.

"What, dobe?"

"Don't call me that!"

"Then don't poke people."

"I was _trying_ to get your attention!"

"You don't need to try, you already have it!" at this, the table fell silent, staring at the Uchiha. Sasuke felt himself going red so he quickly added, "…since you're so annoying."

_Damn, that was close…_

"Fine, then I guess I won't bother asking if you want a snowball fight or not," Naruto replied, not noticing the meaning of what Sasuke almost let slip.

"Dobe, it's my house; I can do whatever I want."

The blonde blanched at this. "Er…well…not if we don't let you!"

"Naruto, it's pointless to argue with him," Kiba butt in. "So, who else? I'm coming as well, by the way."

"You can count us out," Ino replied. "Hinata and I have a surprise treat planned for everyone. Sakura and Temari will be joined us when they're done with presents."

"O…kay…"

"I won't be staying for the whole thing, either. I'm going to come back in and help out," Tenten added.

When they finally finished eating and had cleaned up the kitchen, everyone went up to get dressed for the cold weather. A while later, when they were all ready, everyone went off to where they were to spend most of the morning.

All the boys, except for Shikamaru and Gaara, along with Tenten headed out to the grand garden at the back of the Uchiha complex.

"Let's split up into teams. We can have three groups of three," Kiba proposed as Akamaru started leaping around in the snow, wagging his tail in anticipation.

"Okay! I get Kiba and Tenten!" Naruto shouted.

"And I shall be with Choji and Shino."

"So, that leaved ms, Sasuke and Neiji," Kankuro said.

"Alright! It's all out war no! Just you wait teme! I'll get my revenge!" Naruto yelled across the yard as he fisted his snowball. He threw the ball of snow at Sasuke who ducked.

"Hey!" Choji cried out as the snowball struck his side.

"Oh, sorry Choji –" the blonde was cut off when a snowball struck his face. Sasuke smirked. His aim was always perfect.

And so they continued for an hour and half until finally Kiba shouted, "Everyone gang up on Naruto!"

Naruto, who was currently trying to rid his backside of snow, looked up in surprise, "What?! KIBA YOU TRAITOR!" He couldn't get another word out since he was bombarded with the cold snow flying in from all directions.

* * *

**Hope you liked it! If you noticed any mistakes please let me know so that I can fix them when I get the chance. I can assure you that things will get much more interesting in the next chapter. I think I'll be able to have that up by next week.**

**Oh yeah, if you haven't watched Naruto the Abridged series on youtube, then it might help if you do for the next chapter. There's a scence that refers to a certain part in the series. And also...if you can think of any good truth or dare questions then let me know. I think that's a good enough hint for what's to come.**

**Continue reviewing, I really appreciate it!**

**UPDATE: I must confess that I haven't gotten much time to update this story. I have been busy with a handful of academic work, but I assure you, I have not abandoned the fic and it will be updated in the next several days.**


	3. Truth or Dare

**Here you go everyone! I know I was a couple weeks late on the update but I got trapped in an expected pile of homework. Exams are coming up soon and the teachers have started to pile on the homework. Well, anyways you're not here to read my rants. On with the fic!**

**I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

When the group was finally exhausted and numb from the cold, they walked back inside. That's when they were greeted with a very grim looking Ino.

"Finally! Do you know how long you took?" She looked at each person in the eye and then stopped at Tenten. "I thought you said you'd come help!"

"Uh…yeah, well…it was so much fun!" She gave a sheepish grin.

Ino stayed silent as she looked over the rest of group again.

"Oh, Sasuke!" The raven winced.

"You're all wet; let's go to the bathroom and I can help you dry up," Ino said as she latched onto Sasuke's arm.

"Ino, this is my house, and I'm not a kid. I can dry myself off perfectly fine." It was obvious that it was taking the Uchiha a lot of patience to not blow up. "If you really want to help, then help Naruto."

"Hey! I don't need any help either!"

"Hn." Sasuke trudged up the stairs. The rest of the group followed and Ino

returned to the kitchen, where the rest of the gang was, grumbling what sounded like 'lost my chance'.

Fifteen minutes later, they came back down, dried and refreshed.

"Mmm something smells good!" Kiba said, drooling, as he walked into the kitchen. "Whoa!"

His gaze fell upon two ninja, barely recognizable under the layer of flour they were covered in.

"They needed help…" said a familiar voice underneath the flour.

"Shikamaru?!" Naruto exclaimed, coming to a stop behind Kiba and Akamaru. "And Gaara?"

Sure enough, everyone could see the locks of red hair which were popping up from beneath the flour. The room erupted in laughter and Shikamaru and Gaara were thankful the flour covered up their blush of embarrassment.

"Shut up guys, they were just trying to help!" Temari said.

"We should take a picture of this!" Kiba choked out in laughter.

Suddenly, there was a flash of light and everyone looked around in surprise.

"Already done," Shino smirked, holding out a camera.

Naruto laughed, "alright, Shino!"

"So, anyway, what is that delicious smell?"

"I-it's…well, that is, w-we made some gingerbread cookies and cake…" Hinata said, finally speaking up.

"Yeah, but," Sakura said, stopping Kiba from advancing towards the oven. "It's for later."

"We'll eat lunch now and eat those a bit later for a snack or something," Ino said, slapping Naruto's hand away from the bowl of icing.

"Aww…"

"What's for lunch?" Choji asked and his stomach grumbled.

"Well, we weren't sure what to make, so we _ordered_ a bit of everyone's favourites," Temari replied.

"Where'd you get the money?" Neiji asked, curious.

Sakura, who had started turning red, was the one to answer, "Um…well, y'see, the Uchiha clan gets discounts and stuff, so we just put all charged on…Sa-sasuke's name…"

There was silence. And then everyone turned to look at the Uchiha. Naruto, who was standing right beside the raven, slowly backed away upon sensing the other's anger.

Taking a deep breath, the raven replied, "It's okay, just ask me next time."

The whole room let out a sigh of relief. Everyone knew that an angry Uchiha was the worse kind of Uchiha.

There was an uncomfortable silence until finally Choji spoke up, "So, when will the food be here?"

That seemed to snap everyone out of their thoughts.

"In about ten minutes, I think," Ino replied.

"Okay, then Gaara and I will go and get cleaned up," Shikamaru said, and followed Gaara out the kitchen.

"Ah!" Shikamaru let out a gasp as he tripped over something and was about to hit to the floor.

He braced himself for the fall, closing his eyes shut, but suddenly felt strong arms around him.

"Huh?"

The lazy ninja slowly opened his eyes and was met with a shock of red hair. His face immediately turned red as he realized who it was that had saved him from his fall.

"Are you okay?" Gaara asked.

"Uh…yeah, thanks." Never had Shikamaru thought he'd be grateful for having his face covered in flour as he did now.

For several moments, the two started into each other's eyes. It was like a scene out of a romantic movie and Gaara still hadn't let go of the other ninja.

Their moment was broken by Naruto's voice," I'm hungry guys; are you sure I can't have a cookie? Just for taste-testing?"

The two quickly let go of each other, realizing there were still other people in the room. Luckily, everyone's attention had returned to the blonde, and they were able to sneak upstairs without gathering any more attention.

"If anyone's gonna taste-test, it will be me!" Choji spoke up.

"Not fair; I asked first!" The blonde whined.

"Keep dreaming! I'll be the first to try these delicious cookies!" Kiba yelled out, looking inside the oven.

"Do you boys never stop fighting?" Temari let out an exasperated sigh. "We told you the cookies are for later; no one's gonna do any taste-testing. Besides," she said, smirking. "Shikamaru and Gaara already did that part."

There was a groan of disappointment.

"Fine, do whatever you want!" Naruto cried out. "I'm gonna go upstairs. Tell me when the food arrives!"

Naruto let out a huff of anger and stomped up the stairs. Everyone broke out in conversation, killing time as they waited.

* * *

Naruto went up to the room he was sharing with Sasuke, still grumbling. Once he was inside and the door was closed, he let out a giggle. He never knew he was such a genius!

He went to the bathroom and let the water in the sink run for a bit before splashing his face with the cool liquid. This cleared up his thoughts.

He hoped the lazy ninja wouldn't be too mad for tripping him in front og everyone. But it was the best opportunity for some match-making. Anyways, he was pretty sure everyone had forgotten about it.

Naruto grinned at himself in the mirror and opened the door.

"Ah! Teme! You scared me!" Naruto cried out as he found himself face-to-face with the raven.

"Shut up, dobe; I have some question for you," he said in monotone.

"Like I would answer any question for you!"

Sasuke ignored him. "What happened downstairs just now?"

"You know what happened. You were there."

"I mean with Shikamaru and Gaara…"

Naruto felt a bit of panic; he had promised not to tell anyone. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Stop playing around, dobe. I saw you trip Shikamaru. Why?" The raven demanded.

"I didn't trip him. Your eyes must be playing tricks on you. Are you tired? Or stressed? Oh, it must be because of the missions we've had lately. But we have two whole weeks off, so lighten up!" Naruto grinned, trying to avoid answering the question.

Unfortunately, Sasuke realized this, too. With lightening-fast movements, he pulled out some rope from his hidden traps and tied Naruto up, hanging him upside down from the ceiling.

"You can't go anywhere now, dobe, so you better tell me," he growled.

Suddenly, the blonde disappeared in a puff of smoke and a log was set in his place.

"You've just been logged Sasuke!" The voice came from behind, but before he had time to react, he was hit. Next thing he knew, he was on his back, laying on the floor, with Naruto sitting on top of him. There was a frown on his face. (1)

A few seconds of silence and then the two were fighting; rolling around on the floor and sending punches and kicks at each other. They also sent stray hits, trying to get a feel of the other.

Several moments passed before the door opened and there were two ninjas holding the raven and blonde back from each other.

"Naruto, stop it!" the one holding the blonde cried out as he struggled to keep him retained.

"No! Let-me-go! Besides, it was the teme who started it!" Naruto snarled.

"That doesn't matter, just stop!"

"Naruto," said the ninja who was holding the raven back.

Naruto looked up and met the eyes of Gaara. He then whipped his head around to see who was behind him. He immediately stalled his efforts, "Fine."

Sasuke had stopped as well and looked at the blonde curiously. _Why'd he stop so suddenly?_

"So, what were you fighting about anyway?" Shikamaru asked, letting go of the blonde.

It was the Uchiha who replied, "Ramen."

"Ramen?" Gaara's voice echoed.

Naruto picked up what the raven was getting at and added, "Yeah. He said I wouldn't be getting any ramen while I'm here. So, I got mad."

"You were fighting about ramen?" Shikamaru asked, clearly not amused. "You guys are so troublesome. Don't do that again."

And with that, he left the room and headed down the stairs. There was silence for a while before Gaara finally spoke up, "Naruto, your lip is bleeding."

"Wha-? Oh," he brought a hand up to the side of his mouth and felt the hot liquid.

"Come on, I'll clean it up."

Naruto followed the redhead into the bathroom and winced as the other started cleaning up the cut.

"Thank a lot, teme," he said sarcastically at the raven that had followed behind them.

Sasuke stared as Gaara held the side of the blonde's face and carefully dabbed a cloth to it. Instant jealousy boiled up in the raven. He wanted to be the one cleaning up the blonde's wound…even it he was the one who had caused it. He wanted so bad to confess his feelings, but he was afraid of the rejection.

_I'll have to wait until tomorrow_, he told himself.

Tomorrow was Christmas and he was gotten the blonde something special. He'd have to wait for his reaction to the present and see if that was any hint for the blonde's feelings. He had overheard the girls talking a while back saying how Naruto didn't really have a crush on his pink-headed teammate, but was in fact after someone _male_.

It wasn't uncommon in Konoha for males to love other males. Kakashi was the perfect example of someone who openly expressed his feelings for his male lover, Iruka.

"There."

Sasuke snapped out of his thoughts.

"Thanks Gaara!" Sasuke's heart fluttered as the blonde gave a genuine smile. He followed the two down the stairs to wait for the food.

* * *

Later in the afternoon, after everyone had eaten, they decided to play some games. It was the day before Christmas Eve and they couldn't find anything better to do. And, this way, they could all spend some time together. At the moment, they were watching as Shikamaru and Neiji finished off a game of Shogi.

"There," Shikamaru said as he played the finishing move. He glanced at Neiji, who had turned out to be a better opponent than expected.

"Good game. No wonder they call you a genius."

"Yes, you're really good." The voice sent a flutter through the lazy ninja's heart. Gaara had just complimented him!

"Time for Truth or Dare!" Kiba shouted aloud.

The girls squealed at this. Ino and Sakura were especially excited. Finally, a chance for them to get closer to Sasuke!

Everyone made a circle as they took their seat on the floor. The Shogi game board lay abandoned on the table in the corner.

"Okay, so who goes first?"

"Let's start off the with whoever's birthday comes first!"

"Okay, that's me then!" Tenten shouted out.

"When's your birthday?" Temari asked.

"March ninth." Tenten replied.

"You're not it then," Temari said, looking expectantly at her red haired brother, "he is."

"Really? When were you born?"

"January nineteenth," Gaara replied. "But its okay, you can go first."

"Yes! Thanks so much!" Tenten looked around the group deciding whom to choose. "Sakura, truth or dare?"

"Truth."

The reply was instant.

"Is it true you tried to use a love potion on Sasuke during that party last month?"

Sakura turned beet red and Sasuke immediately turned to face her. It was impossible to look him in the eye without dying of fright due to his menacing glare.

"Y-yes…" Sakura managed to say. She then quickly added, "b-but it didn't work! I…I never got a chance to use it…"

Sasuke continued to glare at the pink haired kunoichi. He made a mental note to have all his food tested for love potions next time.

"Go ahead Sakura, your turn."

"Oh, right," Sakura looked around her, and tried to avoid looking Sasuke in the eye. "Choji!"

"…Dare."

"Uh…I dare you to eat more ramen than Naruto!"

"Sakura, that's an awful dare," Kiba called out.

"Shut up, dog face!" Sakura replied, looking expectantly at Choji.

Choji stood up and headed for the kitchen to prepare his ramen. "How many bowls can you eat Naruto?"

"Nine if I'm starving, seven if I'm just in the mood and five any time I want."

Everyone started at him in awe.

"No wonder you're always so full of energy," Kiba commented.

"But it's not very healthy," Ino said with a frown.

"I'll try to beat your seven bowls Naruto." Choji shouted from the kitchen.

Several minutes later, Choji came back in with all of the instant ramen. Naruto looked at it enviously. In ten minutes, Choji had finished four bowls and was about to start his fifth. He had to stop halfway through the sixth because he just couldn't go on.

"Yes! That was only five! I knew no one could come in between me and my delicious ramen!" Naruto cried out. He stole the two remaining bowls which Choji hadn't touched yet and started to eat. Everyone ignored him.

"Your turn Choji," Tenten said, anxious to see what happened next.

Choji, who was lying on his back because he was too full, managed to groan, "Shikamaru."

"What a drag…truth," Shikamaru said, feeling too lazy to do a dare.

"Uh…"

Ino, who was sitting beside Choji, leaned over to whisper into his ear. Choji grinned and slowly sat up.

"Is it true you like someone in this room?"

Immediately, just like Sakura had done, Shikamaru's face turned a bright red in colour. His eyes momentarily acquired a slight panicked expression, but that was gone in a split second and no one took notice. After a slight hesitance, he replied, "yes."

The girls in the room squealed at this and started asking him questions as to who the lucky girl was.

"Hey, that's not fair! You can only ask him _one_ question at a time!" Naruto said, coming to Shikamaru's aide.

"Aw…" Tenten pouted. "Okay, it's your turn, Shikamaru."

Shikamaru thanked Naruto silently and looked around the room. His eyes landed on a certain raven-haired Uchiha. "Sasuke."

"Dare," Sasuke smirked.

Shikamaru thought for a second before turning his attention to the girls beside him, "Any suggestions Temari?"

Temari's eyes lit up at once and she leaned over to whisper into his ear. Shikamaru smirked to himself. He had had a feeling that Temari knew about the feelings between the dobe and raven. His assumption was correct.

Temari stood up and walked over to the kitchen. When she returned, she handed the lazy ninja a chocolate bar.

"Sasuke," Shikamaru started. "I dare you to eat this chocolate bar."

"Hn." Sasuke replied. These morons would never be able to come up with a proper dare. He reached out to take the bar from the genius.

"But," Shikamaru added, taking the bar out of the ravens reach. "You have to eat it while either of those two," he pointed to the two sitting beside Sasuke, "holds it… in their mouths."

If anyone had been looking closely, they could have seen the raven's initial shock. But that was soon covered up when the girls let out a whine. _Of course_, thought Sasuke, rolling his eyes behind closed eyelids. It was obvious the girls had just lost their chance at getting _closer_ to him.

He sighed and looked to either side of him. On his right was bushy-browed Lee. Sasuke shuddered at the thought of having to do that with _him_. When he looked to his left, it was all he could do to not turn red again. It was Naruto.

He looked around the room and saw that everyone was waiting for his decision. He gulped, and then turned his head back to his…left. Sasuke tilted his head towards the blonde, "Okay, dobe."

Naruto chanced a murderous look at Shikamaru and glared daggers at him. He then reached over and grabbed the chocolate bar from him. He unwrapped it and used his mouth to hold it up from one of the ends. He then turned to face the Uchiha.

Sasuke slowly – achingly slowly – leaned over towards the blonde, his eyes on the bar of chocolate. When he was less than a breath away, Naruto shut his eyes. The raven tentatively took a bite, and then another. Naruto could feel him getting closer and so he opened his eyes to peek out. The Uchiha was looking directly at him, a hungry look in his eyes. Something told Naruto it wasn't hunger for the chocolate.

Soon enough, Sasuke's lips were a hair's width away from Naruto's. He looked into the blonde's eyes, asking for permission. No one except the raven noticed the slightest shake of Naruto's head, indicating that he was okay with it.

Hesitating for a moment, Sasuke connected his lips with Naruto's soft ones. It was like heaven – with chocolate. The feel of the blonde's lips on his was driving him crazy. He wanted more! It was killing him to keep his moans to himself and to stop his hands from caressing the dobe's soft and silky hair.

Naruto couldn't believe it. He just couldn't. Sasuke was kissing him! Well, if you counted trying to get chocolate out of the boy's mouth kissing. Which Naruto definitely did. He was trying desperately not to moan.

The Uchiha leaned in a bit more and ran his tongue across the bottom of the blonde's lips, asking for entrance. Although the dobe's mouth was already slightly open, he still wanted to do this with his full consent. He felt the blonde's mouth open a bit wider and he took this as his chance to dig deeper. He pushed his tongue into the other's mouth, tasting some of the melted chocolate on his lips. It was all so sweet.

For several moments, their tongues battled for dominance, each trying to end up victorious. By this time, the chocolate was all melted and they could taste the sweetness of it in each other's mouths. In the end, it was the raven who won, his tongue exploring every crevice of Naruto's mouth.

When they finally stopped, their need for air getting too strong, it was with regret. They wanted it to go on longer. Forever, if that was possible. It wasn't however, and as they pulled apart, their lips slightly swollen from the action and their cheeks flushed from excitement, they gazed into each other's eyes, wondering. Did he feel that? Was it the same for him? Why did it have to end?

Their thoughts were interrupted by a cough from Temari. Suddenly, the realization of where they were came crashing down on them. Like lightening, they both pulled away and sat down properly, distancing themselves and not daring to look up.

There was an awkward silence. Everyone had noticed the passion with which the two had acted. To some of them, such as Shikamaru, Temari, Neiji and Gaara, everything was obvious. They had been waiting for a chance to get the two closer together since it was quite obvious what they felt for the other. To some of the others, like Sakura, Ino and Kiba, confusion and (in the case of the girls) jealousy clouded their vision.

Finally, Sasuke cleared his throat and looked around the room. He knew the best person to take out his embarrassment on, "Kiba."

It took a while for the ninja to understand why the raven had said his name, "Dare."

"Stay outside for ten minutes in only your underwear for ten minutes."

Kiba took a look out the window and shivered. It was the beginning of a blizzard. He stood up anyway and headed to the front of the house where he started to strip down to his boxers.

"Oh yeah," Sasuke called out. "You have to sing, too! And you can't put your clothes back on until midnight."

"WHAT!?" Kiba exploded. "…damn you, Sasuke!" He continued to curse until he had opened the door and was outside in the freezing cold.

Through the window, the group could see him start to sing. He was hugging himself in an attempt to cover himself from the cold and bitter wind.

Akamaru, who had been told by Kiba to stay behind, started whimpering.

Ten minutes passed and Sasuke motioned for the dog lover to come back in.

"G-geez, thanks a-a lot S-Sasuke," Kiba said as he came back inside, shivering.

"Hn. No problem," the Uchiha smirked.

"Bastard," Kiba hissed.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

"That's what I thought. Your turn."

"Right," he turned to look beside him as he took his seat. "Shino."

"Truth." Shino replied immediately.

"Did you really used to have a girlfriend?" Kiba asked skeptically.

"Of course. Kiba, you wasted your chance with a stupid question." Shino looked around the room. "Kankuro."

"I guess I'll go with dare."

"Okay…dance like a chicken," he answered simply.

There was silence.

"What?"

"I said dance like a chicken."

"Shino, that's the stupidest dare ever; you're the one who wasted your turn!" Kiba growled.

"Since it's so stupid, let's see you dance Kankuro."

Kankuro sighed and stood up. He went to the centre of their circle and started moving his arms like a chicken.

The girls started to laugh a little.

"That's not dancing. I said to dance!" Shino ordered in quiet amusement.

Kankuro cursed under his breath and increased his movements. He also started clucking. This resulted in a roar of laughter from Naruto and Kiba. At this, Kankuro went back to sit down, and chose Naruto as his victim.

"Dare!" the blonde boldly announced.

"Okay…for the remainder of the game, all you can say is 'moo'," Kankuro chuckled.

"'Moo'?"

"Yes, 'moo'."

"Moo." Naruto replied and pointed to Ino.

"Hmm…truth."

"Moo…moo moo moo-moo moo…moo…moo moo moo-moo moo?" Naruto grinned happily.

Everyone stared at him in exasperation.

"…moo?" Naruto asked, seeing everyone starting at him.

"Here, take this and write down what you're trying to say," Sakura threw him a notebook and pen. Everyone chuckled at Naruto's antics.

When Naruto finished, he handed the notebook over to Kankuro who was on his left to read aloud.

"He wrote… 'is it true you had a crush on Choji during the Chunin exams?" Kankuro read aloud.

Everyone turned to look at Ino, who was desperately trying to hide her deep crimson blush.

"Uh…yes…that's true…"she mumbled out. "But, h-how did you know that? I never told anyone!"

Naruto's only reply was, "Moo moo moo moo-moo moo moo-moo! Mooooo!"

Everyone sweatdropped.

"Uh…okay…"Ino said, looking for whom to pick. "How about…Hinata!"

"Oh, um…t-truth…" Hinata said softly. She was already a little nervous about being in the centre of attention again and she hoped against hope that Ino wouldn't ask her about her love-life.

"Alright Hinata…is it true that you're secretly training with Sakura to become a medi-nin?" Ino asked with curiosity. This had been a rumor going around for months now but no one had been able to confirm it.

Hinata was eternally thankful Ino hadn't asked her something else; this one she could reply easily, "Y-yes, I've been meeting up her and Tsunade-sama for the past five month to work on my healing abilities."

Everyone looked at her in surprise and awe. This caused her to look down at her hands as the blush turned deep.

"Mooooo!"

"Your turn to ask, Hinata," Sasuka said, seemingly unfazed by the new revelation.

"N-Neiji?"

"Dare," came the reply.

"Oh, I…uh…" Hinata hesitated, unsure of what would be appropriate to use as a dare for her cousin.

Tenten leaned over and whispered something into her ear. Hinata looked back at her, a slightly petrified expression on her face. With an encouraging shove from Tenten, Hinata spoke, "I-I dare you to…d-drink the entire bottle of s-sake that Kakashi-sensei gave to us."

Neiji did a double-take. He gulped, "Sake?"

Everyone in the room knew that Neiji could not hold his alcohol. Tenten smirked, "That's right! Since it's a dare, you have to do it. Unless, of course, you're a…chicken?"

"Mooo!"

That hit a nerve. Neiji did not like being called a chicken. "Fine…I'll do it! Where is the bottle?"

"Uh…Naruto?" Sakura looked at the blonde. Naruto had been left in charge with hiding the bottle from people like Lee who couldn't hold their alcohol very well.

"Moo," Naruto got up and raven up the stairs. He came back down a couple minutes later holding a good sized bottle full of sake. He handed the bottle to Neiji, who hesitated for a moment before uncorking the bottle and draining all its contents.

Everyone watched in awe at the Hyuuga.

"Moo-moo moo moo moo!" Naruto said, facing Hinata once again.

"P-pardon?"

Sasuke handed the blonde his notebook and pen, and read the words which Naruto wrote down aloud, "He says 'nice on, Hinata'."

"T-thank you."

Everyone's attention returned to the Hyuuga as he finished the bottle.

"Ah…!" the Hyuuga sighed with a flushed face. "Thanks, 'N'ruto."

And with that, he slumped back, letting the alcohol get the best of him.

"What? Doesn't he usually go crazy and start saying stupid things like Naruto does on a daily basis?" Ino asked, dumbfounded.

"Yeah…unless the sake wasn't strong enough," Tenten mused.

"Che, as if. Kakashi-sensei wouldn't give anything less," Sakura said.

Naruto gave a nervous laugh and the group turned to face him. After seeing the fiery look on Sasuke's face, Naruto frantically started writing on the notebook, with a quick shout of moo. Once finished, he handed it back to Sasuke, not meeting the other's eyes.

"Apparently, he finished half the bottle himself and filled it back up with water," Sasuke said and then gave Naruto his signature glare of death.

"What?! Naruto! You baka!"

"You ruined all the fun!"

"We could have seen a light side of Neiji if it hadn't been for you!"

Naruto shrank back into himself, trying not to let all the girls' shouting get to him. "Moo," he mumbled quietly and Sasuke took this to mean he was sorry.

"Let's continue with this," the raven said, coming to Naruto's rescue and immediately silencing the girls.

Before anyone could say anything, Neiji sat up abruptly and looked around the room curiously. His usually stoic expression was gone, all his emotions revealed for the world to see.

"Ish the party o'er?" his words were slurred.

"Party?" Kiba echoed.

Ignoring him, Neiji crawled over to Shoji and put both hands on the boy's cheeks, pinching them. "Ha! Yer cheeks are sho cute and chubby!"

And before Choji could say anything, the Hyuuga had crawled over to Gaara and grabbed his hair with both hands. "Wow! Yer head's on fire but it doesn't burn!"

"It's not on fire, that's my hair," Gaara replied calmly, bringing Neiji's hands down.

"Oh…wow…how many times do you dye it?"

"I don't."

"Wi' crayons?"

"I don't dye it. It's natural."

"Moo," Naruto couldn't help but grin at the Hyuuga and his antics.

Neiji turned his attention to the blonde, "Quack?"

"Moo?"

"Quack quack quack-quack."

"Moooo!"

Everyone was starting at the exchange between the two in utter amazement. Apparently, the two could understand each other perfectly with only 'moos' and 'quacks'. And Naruto wasn't even drunk.

"Uh…Neiji…it's your turn in the game."

Neiji had perked up in surprise and he pointed to Rock Lee, "Quack."

"Yosh! The power of youth has finally chosen me! I choose to follow the truth!" he spoke loudly, with his fist at his heart.

"Shhh! Quack quack-quack-quack quack…quack!" and with a final quack, Neiji slumped over again, landing on top of Naruto in a heap of limbs.

"Moo!" the blonde yelped and fell back with Neiji on top of him snoring loudly.

Sasuke glared at the sleeping Hyuuga in hidden anger and jealousy. The sight of Neiji's hands all over the blonde sent his anger to a boiling point. He was snapped out his thoughts for sweet revenge as Temari yelled out Gaara's name.

"Truth."

In all his musings, Sasuke had missed both Lee's and Temari turns. _Hn_, he thought, _I need to control my feelings. Can't afford to lose concentration. _

"Okay, this is something I've always wanted to know; do you have a crush on anyone right now?" Temari asked slyly.

Reluctantly, and with a blush on his face, the redhead answered, "…yes."

"Oh!" Temari cooed. "Who is it?"

"On question only Temari," he replied, effectively silencing her.

Sakura and Ino had opened their mouths to say something but were cut off by a loud snore. It had come from Naruto who was still swamped under Neiji. He had fallen asleep. And, although this would normally be seen as the usual behaviour of the blonde, it hardly ever happened unless he was extremely tired.

At the obviously cute sight, Sasuke again felt jealousy rise inside his chest. He knew that Neiji didn't mean anything by it and that it wasn't even directly his fault. Even so, he couldn't help but want to rip the Hyuuga away from the dobe. With an invisibly scowl on his face, he helped Kankuro and Shino pull the sleeping ninja off the blonde. And before anyone could say anything, Sasuke spoke.

"I'll take Naruto," he tried to make it sound as though he was annoyed with the task. He couldn't afford to have anyone find out about his _secret_.

Kankuro nodded and lifted Neiji on his back. As much as Sasuke wanted to carry the dobe bridal style he too carries him on his back in a similar fashion.

Without saying a word to the rest of the group, he made his way up the stairs. He wondered to himself in amazement at how light the blonde was despite being able to eat like a pig. Once he reached their room, he closed the door behind him and gently placed the sleeping blonde on the bed. Seeing as he couldn't change the dobe's clothes for him, he resorted to only removing his sweater and socks. Satisfied, he tucked him in and went to bathroom to change his own clothes.

When he returned, he found the door to the bedroom open and Gaara leaning against the doorframe, gazing at _his_ blonde. He arched an eyebrow at the redhead, silently asking for the purpose of his secretly unwanted presence. When he didn't get a response, he scowled and continued to go about completing his usual nightly rituals.

After several long minutes of Sasuke ignoring the other ninja, Gaara finally broke the silence.

"He is so different," he said softly. "No matter what happens to him, he always overcomes it and moves one. He has a spirit unlike any other."

Sasuke slowly turned his face to look at him again, wondering what he was getting at.

"He never ceases to amaze me," the redhead said and then brought his eyes up to the raven. "Tell him I thank him for his efforts and that he should think of himself sometimes."

Sasuke opened his mouth to ask what the hell he was talking about, but he was cut off again as the Gaara once again started speaking.

"It is getting late. I will leave you two alone now," Gaara said as he made his way to leave. "Take care of him."

The door closed behind him and Sasuke was left to dwell on his thoughts. _Take care of him? _What had he meant by that? Of course he would take care of him; there was no way he would let anyone or anything harm him. After all, he loved –

The Uchiha froze in his thoughts. How?! How could Gaara have found out? He told no body about his feelings for the blonde. He even refused to think about it while he was alone.

As he slipped into bed beside the blonde and listened to the rest of his friends come up the stairs, he furiously tried to remember where he had messed up. When had he let his mask down? _Damn it_, he cursed.

Luckily, it was Gaara who had figured it out. If it had been one of the girls, he was sure the whole village would have found out by now.

He knew Gaara was sharp; he was Kazekage after all. But so far, the raven had believed only his fighting skills were up to that level. The raven squinted in the dark; maybe the sand ninja had found out through someone else? But the only people he could think of were Neiji and Shikamaru.

If that was the case…then Sasuke would have to figure out a way to know for sure. He had to know. As he closed his eyes, falling into a light slumber, his last thought was of how cute the blonde beside him had looked when they had…_kissed_.

* * *

**So, there you go folks! I hope you all liked it. I'm not so good with the dirty dares and stuff, but I tweaked some suggestions that I recieved from a few of you, and voila! I'm going to try to get the next chapter up by Christmas Day. I hope things work out well and that I have time to work on it.**

**Please review and tell me what you think!**

**UPDATE: I'm so sorry! I've failed you as an author! I know I said I would have the next chapter by Christmas Day...and it's already past New Year's...Gomen. Truth is, I've been procrastinating...a LOT! And, also, I only have half of the next chapter done. Plus, I'm also working on Broken Shards, so it's been quite slow, neh? I assure you, though, I haven't given up on this, and I promise to make sure I finish this. That, you can count on! I never leave things half done ;) So, please hold on a bit longer!**


	4. Christmas Eve

**Here's the long-awaited chapter four! I'm terribly sorry for such a long delay. But in a couple weeks my hectic scool life will be over and I'll have more time to focus on some SasuNaru ;) Enjoy!**

* * *

It was Christmas Eve and everyone woke up excited and refreshed. Shikamaru had been awake for a couple of hours before he heard the rest of the estate wake up. He was sitting by the window, gazing out at the clouds. It was too much of a drag to go outside and lie down in the snow, so he resorted to looking out the window from the bed for now.

He felt someone's eyes on him and he turned out to see who it was. Of course, he should have known it would be the redhead. He was lying down on his bed, his breathing slow and calm. He smiled tentatively and was greeted by a similar smiled in return.

"Good morning," Gaara said.

"'Morning to you, too," Shikamaru said as he finally got up, He stretched out his stiff muscles and came to stand in front of his secret crush. "Did you sleep tonight?"

There was no point in asking, he knew the answer.

"No."

Having no reply, Shikamaru merely held out his hand and gave a comforting smile. Gaara took the hand and pulled himself up. He looked over at the third bed which was currently unoccupied. Kankuro had gotten up a while ago and was currently taking a shower.

"It's Christmas Eve," Shikamaru said, stating the obvious. "Let's do something special."

"That sounds…fun," the redhead replied. And with a smile, he and Shikamaru went off to get ready for the rest of the day.

* * *

In the room across the hall, Sasuke awoke to find he couldn't move his arm. Overcoming the fraction of panic that momentarily had him worried, he looked at his arm. He couldn't help but smile. Naruto was fiercely holding onto his arm in his sleep. _Cute_, thought Sasuke. He tried to pry his arm gently out of the blonde's strong hold but found he was unable to do so. He soon gave up. It felt nice to be so close to the blonde.

Several minutes later, he felt Naruto waking up, and feigned sleep. He didn't know how the blonde would react if he found out the raven didn't mind the intimate contact.

Naruto groaned and slowly opened his eyes. That was the best night's sleep he had ever had since…well…ever. He looked beside him and smiled. It was Sasuke. Cute, angelic, sleeping Sasuke. He looked down and found he had the raven's arm in a death grip. _Awww_, the blonde thought. He was about to snuggle closer when he realized he was holding _Sasuke's_ arm. And so he suddenly let go as though he had been burned, and shot out of bet with a yelp.

Sasuke felt his heart drop as he felt the blonde's arms release him and heard the steps rush into the bathroom. He opened his eyes slowly and lay there, contemplating what to do next.

In the bathroom, Naruto tried his best to calm down. He desperately hoped that Sasuke was still asleep and that he wouldn't know what had happened. Maybe sleeping on the same bed as the Uchiha hadn't been such a good idea.

Figuring that he should at east get ready, he started going about his usual daily routine. In the middle of his shower, he realized something: how had he got to bed last night? The last thing he remembered from the night before was playing truth or dare and Neiji falling on top of him. Had drank too much from Neiji's bottle of Sake? That would explain the oncoming headache. Then who had brought him up? Ugh, he hated hangovers…

When he finally finished everything, he stepped back out into the bedroom to find the raven sitting up in bed, apparently waiting for something.

"Hey Sasuke," Naruto greeted.

"Hn."

"Were you the one who brought me up last night?" he blurted out.

"Hn."

"…I'll take that as a yes."

"Whatever, dobe," he replied, his voice cold and distant.

Naruto turned, curious as to why the other ninja was in such a bad mood. "Is something wrong?"

"No. Just shut up, dobe; I'm trying to think."

The blonde obliged for some odd reason and left the room. As he made his way down the stairs, he heard a yell.

"AGH!" it was Kiba.

Naruto rolled his eyes and found the said dog ninja standing under the door frame to the kitchen with Ino standing across from him.

"Who put up _mistletoe_ in such a random place?" Kiba cried out.

"It wasn't _me_," Ino said, crossing her arms. "I completely forgot about the mistletoe."

'Oh, _sure_, that's what they all say," Kiba said sarcastically. "But we all know you wanna kiss me, so come on."

"Dream on, dog-breath!" Ino exclaimed. "Never in a thousand years would I be caught kissing _you_!"

Naruto watched their argument in silent amusement, waiting to reveal himself at the right moment. It was much too good an opportunity to pass up. Just then, Sakura, who must have been in the kitchen, spoke up. "You'll have to, Ino."

"What do you mean 'have to'?"

"That's a special jutsu that Temari did. You're trapped until you kiss the other person," she giggled.

"WHAT?" Ino and Kiba shouted in unison.

"Yep."

Naruto thought about this new revelation in wonder. _The mistletoe traps you? Must be a genjutsu technique._ He subconsciously brought his fingers up to his lips, remembering his and Sasuke's 'kiss' from the night before. If he could get Sasuke to...He gulped. He had to know if his feelings were mutual first. Ever since last night, he couldn't help but wonder if he had a chance with the Uchiha he so loved. He was snapped out of he thoughts by the sound of Ino's voice.

"Oh, c'mon, let's get this over with before everyone else starts showing up!"

"Fine!" Kiba growled. Clearly, he was not pleased with the way things were going.

When the two brought their lips together, Naruto stepped forward with a mischievous grin on his lips.

"Whoa, Kiba!" he said loudly. "I didn't know you had the hots for Ino!"

Like lightening, the two separated. Naruto was pleased to see their faces the same shade as tomatoes.

"Naruto!" Kiba had the look of a deer caught in the headlights.

Sakura burst out laughing from behind Ino, "great timing Naruto!"

"M-mistletoe!" Ino blurted. "It was mistletoe!"

"Whatever," the dobe replied. "That's what they all say."

He gave Ino and Kiba a quick wink and walked past them into the kitchen. He could hear them growling behind him. He felt sorry for the two, but no sorry enough. He snickered. It was quite obvious that Ino had a thing for Choji, and he was pretty sure that Kiba felt something for Hinata. He chuckled to himself and grabbed some toast and hangover medicine from the cupboard before sitting down at the table to wait for everyone else.

"You just had to that, didn't you Naruto?" Sakura questioned as she sat down beside him. She was still giggling about the mistletoe.

"They asked for it!" Naruto replied, and then added in a low voice, "I think Choji was listening from the top of the stairs."

The pink haired kunoichi raised an eyebrow in amusement and glanced over at the two who were still arguing, red-faced. Turning back to the blonde, she smirked, "We'll see what happens next."

They left it at that and instead started discussing other things when Naruto remembered something.

"Hey, Sakura, what happened last night after Neiji got drunk?"

"What, you don't remember?" Sakura questioned. "Oh, that's right, you passed out. Well, we finished the game and then Sasuke and Kankuro took and Neiji upstairs."

"I thought so, but I just wanted to check again anyway. Sasuke-teme was in a bad mood this morning. I wonder why…"

"Don't worry about it; it's Christmas Eve! Besides, you know hoe Sasuke is," Sakura commented.

Everyone else had now started to enter the kitchen and soon, conversation about the night before became the topic of interest.

"Hey, Kiba, don't you have a cold or something, after last night's dare?" Tenten asked as she sat down.

Kiba pouted, remembering the event with malice. "No, I don't. But Sasuke does…a cold heart that is."

The said raven glared at the boy in amusement. "Thanks…dogbreath."

"Arg! Don't call me that! You're just as bad as Naruto!"

"Don't say that, I don't like the idea of him having rubbed off on me."

'So, Shikamaru…since we're done the game now, you can answer more questions, right?" Ino teased.

"Yes, but I'm not obligated to answer since we're not playing."

"Hey that's not fair!"

"Yeah, c'mon, tell us who it is!" Sakura cried out.

"You're so troublesome."

"Not if you tell us."

"What about you, Gaara?" Everyone turned to look at the redhead.

In return, Gaara only glared at them in silence until they looked away. Temari smirked, explaining, "You can't get anything out of him so easily. The fact that he even answered the question yesterday was surprising in itself."

Shikamaru looked down into his cup of tea in silence as the rest of them carried on with the conversation. He'd just realized that the fact that Gaara had feelings for someone meant that his love would forever remain unrequited.

By the time he got a hang of himself, the conversation had shifted to something else.

"Who wants to go to the hot springs?" Sakura asked.

"There isn't any hot springs here, genius."

"Yeah there are! I think you're forgetting the fact that we're at the Uchiha estate. There's a small one at the back," she replied matter-of-factly.

"Oh."

"I-I'll come," Hinata said softly, looking down at his plate.

"Great!"

"Me too," Temari added. "I haven't gone to a hot spring for so long!"

"Alright, then we're off!" Sakura giggled from the excitement. She stood up, having finished eating and waited by the door for the other girls.

"Oh, and don't forget: it's Christmas Eve!" Ino reminded everyone. "Which means its party night! And we'll exchange the gifts tomorrow morning."

Several minutes later, they left, leaving the guys alone at the table…with the dishes.

"…"

"Well…this is awkward…" Kiba said, looking around the table.

"And that's why you'll be doing the dishes," Kankuro smirked.

"Hey! What? Why me?"

"Because, Neiji said firmly and stood up.

"Because what?" Kiba watched as the Hyuuga set his plate in the sink. He waited impatiently for an answer, but Neiji ignored him and walked out, going off to do his own thing.

Before Kiba could create another outburst, Lee cut him off.

"It's okay Kiba. I will help! And with my ever youthful speed, we will finish in no time!" Lee exclaimed with a smile on his face.

"Hey, thanks man!" Kiba then turned to look at the others who had stayed silent so far. "At least _he's_ being nice."

"He's always nice," Naruto replied. "…and energetic."

"Then it's settled! Kiba and I will make sure this kitchen is as clean as a cat!"

"…a cat?"

"Ugh…Naruto, don't get him started on another rant!" Kankuro groaned.

Yet sure enough, Lee started to rant on excitedly about the cleanliness of cats.

One by one, everyone started to leave, and Lee barely noticed. That left Kiba and Akamaru to bear with him until the Kitchen was as clean as a…cat.

* * *

It was about a half an hour later that Sasuke found himself laying on his bed, thinking. Well, not so much thinking as brooding. But he would never dare to admit that; Uchihas didn't _brood_.

That morning's events had left him in a terrible mood. He was convinced that the blonde didn't love him. They would never have anything but friendship between them.

"Ugh, damn dobe," he grumbled.

Currently, the blonde was outside in the snow again, having a snowball fight much like the day before. Shikamaru and Gaara were playing Shogi again and Kiba and Lee were probably still destroying his kitchen. He had opted out of joining the gang outside; giving the excuse that he had to clean up the mess the blonde left in the room.

He rolled over onto his side and extended his arm on to the other pillow. Breathing in slowly, he relished the very faint scent the blonde had left.

His mind flashed back to the morning when Naruto had jumped out of his arms like lightening. Had it really been that bad? He groaned and looked up at the ceiling.

Thump!

He sat bolt upright and looked around. What was that? The door was still closed and locked, he noted. Then…?

"Sorry Sasuke!" came Naruto's muffled voice from outside.

Annoyed, he looked over at the window. Sure enough, there was a patch of snow, slowly sliding down the glass.

Wanting to vent his frustration, he walked over to the window and opened it, letting the bitter cold wind hit his face.

"Dobe!" he shouted angrily. "Watch where you throw!"

He as about to say more when he noticed Naruto and everyone else were much too far from the wall for it to have been an accident. This made him more angry.

"Baka! You-!"

Wham!

His face suddenly felt cold as ice. He had been hit square in the face by another snowball.

"Oops…sorry!" Naruto called out again, grinning. Sasuke knew he wasn't sorry at all.

Wiping the cold snow off his face, he glared daggers at Naruto who was now laughing his head off. Pretty soon, everyone else who was outside had started laughing as well.

Sasuke let out a growl and yelled, "I'll get you for that Naruto! You're dead!"

And with that, he jumped out the wide window and landed softly in the snow. Grabbing some snow, he packed it together and threw it at the blonde who had yet to realize what was happened.

"T-teme!" he shouted.

Sasuke's face donned a satisfied grin: it was on now.

He hid behind the tree, dodging another snowball just in time. Smirking, he realized it was him against the others. Now that was hardly fair…especially with the mood he as in right now. This was the perfect opportunity to relieve him of his frustration.

Soon enough, he had gotten rid of everyone except the blonde who was currently hiding behind a bush. Some of the guys had gone back inside to take a break, while the rest were lying in the snow, panting and complaining about Sasuke using his Sharingan.

'Scared, dobe?"

"Of you? Never!"

The next thing the raven saw was a rush of blonde and orange before he was toppled into the snow with a certain dobe on top of him.

"Argh!"

"Oomph!"

"Hey!"

And Sasuke was on top of the blonde.

"Heh."

"Baka," Naruto said, rolling over so that he as on top.

"Dobe."

"Can't you think of anything better?"

"Usuratonkachi," the raven smirked.

"Hey!" the blonde said indignantly.

They continued rolling in the snow, fighting like cats and dogs.

Sasuke's initial anger was now forgotten. This was just too much…fun. Being this close to the blonde had awakened something in him and he couldn't help but want to establish even more contact between the two. He felt a shiver run down his spine which had nothing to do with the fact that he was too underdressed to be playing in the snow.

He looked into the blonde's azure eyes and remembered their kiss from last night. Heat rose to his cheeks, but he was sure the dobe wouldn't notice. After all, both their faces were already flushed from the cold.

Al l of a sudden, in the middle of their spat, images floated to his mind. Images of him and Naruto…alone…their lips locked and his hands exploring that beautifully toned body. _Stop! Stop it!_ He berated himself. These were not the type of images that should be floating to his head…and about Naruto nonetheless.

"Argh!"

He tried to repel the thoughts from his mind. Throwing a first at the blonde, he tried to preoccupy his mind with something else.

"Ugh!" Naruto cried out. "Why you-!"

"Hey, are you guys done yet?"

They stopped their fight in mid-punch and looked up. Their friends were watching them with bored expressions on their faces.

"Kiba? Lee?" Naruto asked, confused.

"Yeah, we finished up in the kitchen. We've been watching you guys for twenty minutes now. Aren't you done yet?" Kiba whined.

The two friends looked at each other and silently called it a truce. They stoof up and brushed the snow off their clothes before walking up to the rest of the gang.

"Guess we got carried away," Naruto apologized with a sheepish grin.

"Understatement of the century!" Kiba growled.

"Shut up, dog breath," Sasuke hissed.

"Argh! Uchiha! This is abuse!" he called out, pointing his finger accusingly at the said boy.

'It's what you get," Sasuke replied and walked past everyone back into the building. He smirked as he heard Kiba start ranting on about how unfair his life was.

"Sasuke! Want to join us in the hot springs when the girls are done?" Naruto asked, coming up behind the raven.

"Why?" he asked, turning to face the blonde.

"What sort of questions is that? You've been acting really weird today, Sasuke," said Naruto, annoyed.

"Me? What about you? Ever since this morning…you-" Sasuke stopped himself from going further and abruptly turned around, not wanting to face the dobe.

"This morning?" the blonde asked himself, confused. He tried to recall the events of the morning. He remembered waking up with a bad headache and then the argument between Kiba and Ino…and…_this morning!_

By the time he realized what the raven was referring to, he found himself staring at his retreating back.

"Sasuke, wait!" Naruto called, and caught up to him once more. He was thankful that the others were still outside talking amongst themselves.

The raven stopped and turned around once again. Raising an eyebrow, he motioned for the blonde to continue.

Stepping closer to the Uchiha, he looked up into the dark obsidian eyes, "I'm sorry."

The raven's face stayed impassive. "Do you even know what you're apologizing for?"

Nodding, the dobe answered, "For making you bring me up last night to our room and for being too loud this morning with my hangover."

Sasuke revisited the urge to punch the boy at his cluelessness. Instead, he took a deep breath , his eyes never leaving those of the blonde.

"Baka," he said and turned around, wanting to get away. If the dobe wasn't smart enough to realize it, he certainly wasn't going to tell him.

He started towards the stairs, but found that he couldn't go any further. What the-?

"What? I apologized!" Naruto cried out indignantly. He crossed his arms and waited for the raven to explain; assuming that the reason he was still standing there was because he still has something to say.

"Funny, dobe. What did you do?" Sasuke asked, annoyed. He turned around again to face the blonde who was looking back at him in confusion.

The raven sighed in frustration and leaned his body back against the wall behind him, trying to get the point across.

"How-?" Naruto was about to ask, when it clicked. He looked up at the ceiling and groaned.

Sasuke followed his gaze and blinked in surprise. "What? Who puts mistletoe in the middle of the hall?"

"Oh, I'm going to kill Temari!" Naruto hissed, his hands balled into fists.

"Che, it's only mistletoe," Sasuke said. He tried to walk past Naruto but once again, he was stopped but the invisible force. "What the-?"

"It's not just any mistletoe," Naruto said, a blush starting to creep across his face. "It traps you until you…kiss. That's what happened to Kiba and Ino this morning."

He waited for the explosion that was sure to come from the Uchiha while slowly backing away.

Sasuke stared in front of him, dumbfounded at what he just heard. Why did it have to be _now_ of all times? He felt his chest fill with rage and he turned at the blonde, seeing him as the only victim for the blame.

"Dobe! Idiot! Bastard! What did you do? Get us out of here before I skin you alive!" he roared.

"I can't! Only Temari knows how to do it! And for your information, it's your fault for being a moody jackass and walking off in the first place!" the blonde shouted back.

"Don't go blaming this on me! You're the one who doesn't even know what you're apologizing for and following me around like a damn mutt!"

"Well, _sorry_ for trying to get you to enjoy the _holidays_. That's what we all got together for, teme!"

"I don't need everyone jumping down my throat to have a good time, I'm fine with just-"

"Just what?"

"Just being by myself," the raven lied. He had been very close to letting it slip that he enjoyed the other's company. Where had that come from?

"Well, not everyone's like that!" Naruto argued. "I, for one, would rather spend my time with people I care about…like you!"

"You-! What?"

"You're my best friend Sasuke! I want to spend my time with you as much as possible!"

Best friends? Was that it? Was that as far as their relationship would ever go? What about their 'kiss' from the night before? Sasuke couldn't help but feel depressed at this. He wanted more!

"Would best friends do this?" Sasuke brought his arm to the blonde's back and pulled him close. He took a hold of the boy's chin and leaned in, pressing their lips together.

Naruto was shocked to say the least. He felt the heat rise up to his face and his heart was racing. It was a rough kiss, but it was a kiss nonetheless. He could feel the raven's frustration rolling off him in waves. This couldn't be happening! Sasuke was kissing him! Did that mean…?

Before he could get a hold of himself and kiss back, the Uchiha stopped, panting hard, his face flushed. He walked away without a word.

* * *

Shikamaru was sitting in his room with Temari across from him. She sat on her brother's bed, giggling but trying not to make too much noise. The lazy ninja couldn't help but smile either.

They had just been listening in at the top of the stairs at the conversation between the Uchiha and Uzumaki. Shikamaru couldn't help but feel some pride in knowing that his plan had worked.

After Gaara left to go find his brother, Temari had come in, having finished her time in the hot springs. She couldn't stand that putrid stench. Walking in, she had found Shikamaru lying on his bed, his arms crossed behind his head.

"Where is everyone?" she asked, sitting down on Kankuro's bed.

"Out playing in the snow," he replied, not at all fazed about the sudden interruption.

"Even the Uchiha?"

"Yeah, he just left," he sat up, facing her.

"Perfect," she smiled. Shikamaru raised and eyebrow. He could never tell what a woman was thinking.

"I wanted to ask you something," she smirked. "I s it just me or have you also noticed a…connection…between him and Naruto?"

"Hm, I thought I was the only one."

"Are you kidding? They're so obvious I'm surprised no one else has figured it out yet!" she chuckled.

"I have a feeling Gaara might know."

"Interesting," she said, noticing the look on the boy's face. "Well, I was hoping to help them out a bit."

"My pleasure."

And so, they had started to work on their plan to 'help' the two out a bit. With Temari's mistletoe and his brain, they had timed everything out perfectly. And the result being what they were laughing about right now.

"Those two are just making things more complicated than they have to be," Temari commented.

"Well, with Naruto involved, you can't expect anything less," he said.

"It makes me frustrated. All they had to do was kiss!"

Shikamaru chuckled. "It certainly was bothersome."

"What do you think Uchiha wanted an apology for?" Temari wondered aloud.

"Something must have happened this morning."

"Naruto must have been oblivious his leads…as usual," she rolled her eyes.

Shikamaru shook his head. "No, I think Sasuke just realized his feelings and was probably disappointed when Naruto acted like nothing was up."

"We need to lock them in a closet together," Temari said, giving a mischievous smirk.

"That's troublesome. Don't get me involved next time," Shikamaru sighed.

"C'mon, you have to admit it was hilarious!"

"That's true."

"Hmm, maybe I'll get Gaara to help me out next time," Temari said, looking at the lazy ninja for his reaction.

"I can't see him getting involved either."

"Are you kidding? If it's to help Naruto, he'll do anything! Plus, this is a matter of love, which is something he deeply admires, even though he won't ever admit to it."

"Is that so?" Shikamaru questioned. Now he was interested. There was so much he didn't know about the redhead.

"Yep, but I won't say any more. You'll just have to ask him," she said cheekily.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he sat up, looking at the kunoichi, confused.

"Really, Nara, I thought you were smarter than that," she said as she got up to leave. "I'm sure you'll use this information wisely."

'Wh-how does you know?" he asked incredulously.

"Woman's intuition," she gave a wink and left, closing the door behind her.

Shikamaru sat there, shocked.

A few minutes passed and he slumped back onto the bed, looking up at the ceiling. So Temari knew. He would just have to accept that. There was no point in freaking out as he was sure someone like Naruto would do. Besides, it was too much to stress over.

So instead, he tried to come up with a way to use the information Temari revealed to his advantage. He lay there on the bed for nearly a half an hour before he heard a scream, and then hurried footsteps nearing his room.

He sat bolt upright, just in time to see the door burst open and Kankuro hurry inside, his face red. He was followed by Gaara who walked in calmly, his arms crossed as usual.

The redhead closed the door and sat down on his bed, looking severely annoyed.

Kankuro was panting hard and his face was flushed red. Shikamaru could see a red mark on his cheek as well. There were voiced in the corridor, belonging to the girls. He could tell they were having a heated conversation about something.

"What happened?" he finally asked once the brunette had calmed down somewhat.

"Oh, man, that was awful!" Kankuro groaned and fell face-forward onto the bed.

Shikamaru looked at Gaara for an explanation.

The redhead looked at his brother once before speaking.

"He ran into the Hyyuga girl in the hot spring."

"Don't tell him!" Kankuro cried out. He then turned to face Shikamaru. "And it was an accident!"

Shikamaru looked back at the redhead.

"She slapped him," he said as if it were no big deal.

There was a silence among the three before the lazy ninja let out a bout of laughter.

"You were lucky it wasn't Sakura. She would have sent you flying all the way back to Suna!" Shikamaru said clutching his stomach in laughter.

Kankuro paled and buried his head in the pillow.

"You deserved it," Gaara said, looking at his brother with a mixture of annoyance and amusement.

"It was an accident!" came Kankuro's muffled voice. "You're supposed to sympathize with me!"

Gaara looked at the lazy ninja again and have a smirk at the boy's antics.

Once Shikamaru's laughter had died down, he asked, "So, is that was the commotion is about?" He cocked his head towards the door.

"Yes."

"You know, Kiba is going to come after you for doing that," Shikamaru chuckled.

"What? Why?"

"He likes Hinata."

"Really?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"Well…now that I think about it, he always acts like more of an idiot she she's around."

Suddenly, the voices outside the door got louder.

Shikamaru let out an exasperated sigh. "They're so troublesome."

He stood up and walked over to the door. He opened it and was about to tell them to be quiet when he felt something hard hit him in the face.

"Argh!" he grunted in the pain. He had been thrown backwards quite a bit and was now clutching at his broken and bleeding nose. "What wush dat for?"

He groaned and slumped down onto the floor; everything was fading into darkness. The last thing he saw before he passed out was a mob of pink hair.

* * *

"Oh no!" Sakura let out a gasp upon seeing the lazy ninja in pain. She felt her heart drop to her stomach as the guilt swept over her.

She stepped inside the boys' room and rushed to Shikamaru's side. She heard him groan before going unconscious on the floor.

"Oh, Shikamaru, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to!" She ran a concerned gaze over the limp body. Noticing the blood that was profusely running down the boy's face, she immediately put her hands together and concentrated on her chakra.

Feeling another presence beside her, she looked over and saw Gaara looking over the boy in concern. She have him a reassuring smile when he caught her eye and continued to heal the nose.

The bleeding soon stopped and the boy's nose started to take shape once again. She knew she couldn't heal it complete, but she could speed up the process and at least he wasn't losing any more blood.

"Is he gonna be okay?" Ino asked. She was standing at the door, watching the prcess. Behind her stood Hinata and Tenten.

"Yeah, he'll be fine. He should wake up in a few hours."

Ino let out a sigh of relief. Sakura was sure she saw a certain redhead smile in relief as well. It wasn't obvious, but she was sure it was there.

She looked up around the room and her eyes landed on the source of her frustration: Kankuro.

"You!" she cried out, and Kankuro stiffened.

He had remained quiet for the whole thing, hoping he wouldn't end up with the same fate as his lazy roommate.

"Er-listen! I can explain!" he cried out, holding his arms out in front of him as Sakura advanced.

"There's nothing to explain, pervert!"

"No, wait! It was an accident! An accident!"

"That won't erase what you did!"

"But I didn't see anything!" Kankuro wailed.

"Baka!"

"I didn't! There was too much steam and – and-"

Slap!

Kankuro fell silent, clutching his cheek which was slowly starting to turn red. He sighed, his head downcast. "Okay, okay, I deserved it…"

Sakura scowled and crossed her arms, "Exactly!"

She turned around and found that Gaara had laid Shikamaru onto the bed and was now looking at them in boredom. Wait…did she see a hint of amusement, too?

She gave Kankuro one more death glare before walking out of the room, and closing the door loudly behind her.

Inside, Gaara could hear the girls start to congratulate her for her efforts. He sighed and looked over at his brother who still sitting on the bed, now rubbing his cheeks.

"Good luck with Inuzuka."

Kankuro groaned and slumped down onto the bed.

Gaara looked at Shikmaru and couldn't help the worry and concern that filled his chest.

He had never felt this concerned over someone before. Well there was Naruto and his two siblings but…there was a difference. A very subtle difference.

His heart had beat frantically when he saw the boy get hit like that. It had shocked him to say the least. What had come over him?

Silently, he swat down on his bed, leaning on the backboard, and watched the sleeping genius. He could see a bruise start to form on the boy's nose.

Turning his head to look at his brother, he suddenly got an idea. Kankuro was now lying on his stomach, grumbling to himself. Gaara took control of the sand which was in the gourd on the floor beside him. He let it travel towards his brother and spread out like a blanket over him. With some more force, he locked the sand-blanket in place.

"Hey! What the-?" Kankuro exclaimed, trying to get up. He couldn't move! Craning his neck, he tried to look over at his brother who sitting with his arms crossed and a smirk playing at the corner of his lips.

"Argh! Gaara! Let go! That's not fair!" He whined.

Gaara ignored him, watching in satisfaction as the puppet-master struggled under his hold. Uchiha wasn't the only one who knew how to have fun.

"Ugh, why are you doing this?" the boy questioned.

"Can't have Inuzuka destroy to the house in search for you, can we?"

"What? Traitor! Let me go!"

"Not until justice is served."

"What? Gaara! No! I promise not to any of that ever again!"

Gaara ignored him and tuned his head to watch over the sleeping ninja once more.

He couldn't help but notice that the lazy ninja always seemed to provoke within him emotions that he had never before experienced. He would have to talk to Naruto about this.

* * *

**And that's that folks! Hope you enjoyed it! Any guesses as to what will happen next? Haha.**

**Oh, that's right. If any of you have any ideas for Christmas gifts, please send me a message in my inbox. I loved the ideas some of you gave for Truth or Dare. Also, look forward to some reviewer responses in the next chapter. **

**And guess what people! I've officially accepted my offer into University! XD I'm kind of scared/nervous, but it should be fun, right? Right?**

**Anyways, please let me know what you think and don't be shy to tell me about any errors I might have.**

**UPDATE: I know I should have informed you all of this earlier...I'm leaving for a month long vacation thing next week. I won't be back until late August which is why I haven't updated recently...busy packing and stuff. Plus, I've been working on a special painting (I'm almost done though!) and all the university stuff (I'm so frustrated!). So, as you might have guessed, I won't be updating until I get back. The good news is that I'm taking writing folder with me and plan to work on some chapters while I'm there. Oh, I'm going to England and Portugal in case any of you were curious. Thank you for being so patient with me.  
****-bow-**


	5. Gifts

**Hey everyone! I've returned! Isn't it amazing? And trust me, this one good, long chapter. It's full of fluff at the end since it's Christmas time in Konoha. **

**And guess what? There are quite a few surprises here! Whoever thought the story was going a bit too slow can think again! That's all I'm saying ;) **

**Special thanks to xrowa-chanx for great gift ideas! And to all the rest of you for being so patient. **

**And now, without any more stalling...Enjoy! **

* * *

The next morning, Shikamaru woke up clutching the side of his face, his visage contorted in pain. "What the-?"

He sat up, recalling the events of the night before. _So troublesome…_

Still rubbing his cheek, he got up off the bed and made his way to the bathroom. Looking at his reflection in the mirror, he noticed that the side of his face was slightly red and swollen. "Just great."

After finishing his usual morning routine, he made his way back to his shared room. Upon walking into the room, he discovered the redhead sitting in bed while the other was still sound asleep.

"Merry Christmas," Gaara said to him as he sat down.

The Konoha shinobi blinked. He had forgotten what day it was today. "Merry Christmas indeed. Damn that troublesome Sakura. This'll be hurting for the rest of day."

He gently poked his cheek and winfced in pain.

Gaara nodded in sympathy. He was about to open his mouth to say something when their door was thrown open.

"MERRY CHRISTMAS!"

The two looked on as a certain blonde and brunette shinobi bounded into the room, with Akamaru following right behind them.

"Huh? Wha-?" Kankuro groaned, having been awoken by all the commotion.

"Happy Christmas Kankuro!" Kiba skipped towards him and shook him awake, a grin donning his face.

Shikamaru couldn't form any words as Naruto came over and shook his hand enthusiastically and stuck something on his nose.

"It's Christmas! Be happy! I can't wait to open the presents!" Naruto exclaimed as he padded over to Gaara to do the same.

And just as quickly as they had rushed in, they were gone, barging into the room beside them. The three looked blankly at the closed door, questioning whether that had just been an illusion.

Kankuro looked over at them and doubled over in a fit of laughter. Shikamaru met the redhead's eye, confusion etched on his face. Upon seeing his love's face, he, too couldn't help but laugh. Naruto and Kiba had planted a flashing red reindeer nose on the three of them. Kankuro even sported matching antlers. Of course, the Kazekage's nose clashed horribly with his flaming red hair.

Gaara couldn't help but chuckle lightly at the sight before him.

* * *

Sasuke and Neiji sat at the kitchen table, drinking their tea and trying their hardest to ignore the loud and annoying voices from above.

"Dobe," the raven growled.

"I wish they had an off switch," the Hyuuga sighed.

"If I knew they'd be like this, I wouldn't have allowed them to step within fifty yards of this place."

"You can't do that."

"Of course I can, I know the perfect jutsu-"

"—no, I mean, you wouldn't be able to do that." Neiji interrupted. "You may not have noticed, but you and Uzumaki are _always_ together. I can't imagine one of without the other."

The raven froze. Did this mean Neiji knew about…_that_?

"Really? I never thought about it," he lied.

"Well, it's only natural considering what a good friendship you two have," he chuckled. "Only someone like Naruto can manage that."

_Friendship, huh?_ The Uchiha let his guard down. "Yeah. Damn baka," he replied and continued drinking his tea.

He had purposefully woken up early this morning to avoid the blonde. After their 'moment' the day before, things had been awkward to say the least. Every time there were in the same room together, the blonde would blush profusely and find some excuse to leave. Apparently, they had to be five feet apart for the blonde to act at least somewhat like his normal self.

Though they hadn't really discussed anything after the kiss, Sasuke was content in knowing that he hadn't been outright rejected. He hoped that was a good sign.

"Yosh! Merry Christmas!"

The Uchiha groaned as he heard the hyper-active ninja run down the stairs. He had thought Naruto and Kiba were bad. He had completely forgotten about Lee.

Sure enough, the boy burst into the room, the energy emanating from him in waves.

"It's Christmas!" he shouted. "Be happy! Youth should not spend time with frowns on their faces. Let's celebrate!"

The raven struggled as the energetic boy forced him into a reindeer nose. He smirked when was able to prevent him from donning the hideous accessory. Looking over at Neiji, his jaw dropped.

"You let him?" he asked, dumbfounded.

The Hyuuga shrugged. "It's Christmas."

"Whatever," he muttered, sitting back down.

"Gotcha!" Lee shouted from behind and stuck the nose on him.

"Hey!" The raven exclaimed. "Baka!"

He tried to pull it off, but it wouldn't budge. "What the-? Get this thing off!"

Lee shook his head, amused. "It will only come off after twelve hours."

He turned to leave, but paused, looking over his shoulder, "make sure to spread the cheer!"

"Damn it!" Sasuke banged his fist on the table, annoyed. The nose started flashing red.

"Y'know," Neiji started. "The more you resist, the worse it will be."

The Uchiha scoffed. "I'd never _willingly_ degrade myself to wearing that." He pointed to the Hyuuga, who in turn, raised an eyebrow at him.

Sasuke looked away, no longer wanting to continue their pointless bickering. Turning his head towards the door, he noticed a certain lazy ninja walking towards them from the corridor.

"Good news guys," he said, and sat down across from them, "or bad, depending on how you look at it."

The Uchiha looked at him impatiently, wanting to know what he was talking about.

"Guess who'll be joining us tonight for celebrations?" he paused, waiting for the bulb to light.

"Don't tell me-" Sasuke groaned.

"Kakashi-sensei, Iruka-sensei, Tsunade-sama, Asuma-sensei, Kurenai-sensei, Jiraiya-sama and-"

"—don't say it, please!"

"—Gai-sensei."

Both the Uchiha and Hyuuga groaned.

"I shouldn't have woken up this morning," Neiji sighed in distress.

"I shouldn't have come back to Konoha," Sasuke muttered darkly under his breath.

Suddenly, a blonde blur swept past him. Sasuke looked over his shoulder towards the door that led to the living room. Was that Naruto?

Sure enough, he heard a bad attempt at whistling as he heard the crinkle of gift paper coming from the other room. Sasuke raised an eyebrow and walked over, leaning against the doorway, watching the Kyuubi vessel.

The boy's back was turned to him and he was quietly searching for the boxes with his name on it, completely in his own little world.

After a few more minutes of searching, he finally found one with his name written on it. It was from Sakura, Sasuke recognized the pink wrapping paper.

Luckily, Shikamaru had suggested that they only buy gifts for their teams. That way, not only would it prevent everyone from going broke, there would also be enough space under the tree. And if anyone wanted to give presents to anyone else, then they would do so privately.

"Heh!" Naruto grinned and sat down, his hands already working at tearing apart the carefully wrapped present. Unearthing the gift, he found in his hands a hat, scarf and pair of gloves, all orange. They had had little fox ears and the gloves were patterned to look like paws. Naruto tried them on and grinned more to himself. "Aw, Sakura's the best!"

Sasuke couldn't help but smile at the boy's antics.

Naruto suddenly shot to his feet and looked up, noticing Sasuke for the first time. The look on his face was that of confusion. He looked like he was about to say something, but then remembered his purpose and ran past the raven, shouting "Merry Christmas teme!"

Sasuke heard him bound up the stairs and shout for a certain pink-haired kunoichi to get up.

The raven made his way back to the kitchen table where Neiji was now conversing with Shikamaru and Gaara. Taking a seat, he tried to pay attention their conversation, but couldn't help but let his mind drift off to Naruto's heart-melting smile.

Soon enough, everyone else started to make their way to the living room to look for their own presents under the tree. He also went back with the other three and started searching for his name. He saw the familiar pink wrapping paper and opened it up. Unraveling the paper, he found a combination of things; a medicine kit along with a hat, scarf, and gloves similar to those Naruto received. However, in place of fox ears and paws, he thought these looked more like the ears and paws of a black cat. They were really soft and he knew both the garments and the medicine kit would come in very useful in future missions.

Sakura always knew what was best. He was glad she wasn't as obsessed with him as she was before, even though she acted like it. It had given him a chance to get to know her better, and he could even tolerate her more – maybe even go as far as to call her a good friend.

Going back to the tree, he found a present with baby-yellow wrapping paper. Upon closer inspection, he found that it was from Ino. Surprised, and annoyed at the same time for the fact that she hadn't waited until later to give it to him, he opened it cautiously. Inside, he found a wooden box with an engraving of a rose. Pulling it open, he found himself looking into an assortment of herbs. Before he could question it, a note caught his eye.

_Merry Christmas Sasuke! _

_I hope you like what I got for you. It's a collection of special herbs that will help battle most poisons. I'm sure it will help during missions. I've included a little book with instructions and information about the properties of some of them. _

_Your friend, Ino. _

The end of the note was followed by a series of hearts.

Sasuke raised his eyebrows at this. Out of all the things he had expected, this was definitely not it. He found himself starting to respect the woman more now. At least she wasn't giving him useless things thinking he might 'fall in love' with her. He smirked. No one could compete with the person he was after.

He looked under the tree some more, looking for the last present. Where was Naruto's present? He felt himself getting anxious. He couldn't find it. Did Naruto not want to give him a present? Or…maybe he would give it to him later, in private, as the raven had decided to do with his present to the blonde. He wanted it to be personal. He had woken up early this morning just to take back the present from the under the tree. The events of the past few days had gotten him thinking; maybe if he gave his present to the blonde personally, and show him how much he cared for him, then maybe their relationship should blossom into something else.

He stood up from his kneeling position on the floor by the tree and was about to walk over to Sakura when he noticed something on the floor by his foot. A kunai? Picking it up, he found there was a note attached to it:

_Hey Naruto,_

_I know you get really cold during the winter, so I thought the hat and gloves would come in handy. I just hope you remember to wear them. I also made this kunai for you. It acts like a boomerang in some ways. I've made it so that it only reacts to your chakra signature so that only you can control it. _

_Don't forget to do what I said! If you don't do something, I'm going to lock you two up in a room together until something finally happens! This tension is killing me! There's no doubt he feels the same way – just do it! _

_Hope you have a very Merry Christmas,_

_You friend, Sakura. _

The raven found his heart beating fast. He mind was reeling. Was this what he thought it was? Did this just disprove his worst nightmare? Could the blonde really be his?

* * *

Shikamaru waited until the very end to collect his presents. There was no way he was getting into that mess; it was just too troublesome.

When things finally cleared up, he calmly walked over and picked up the two presents that lay motionless under the tree. One had yellow wrapping paper, clearly from Ino, and the red one clearly from Choji.

Upon opening them, he found himself with a t-shirt with the words 'World's Laziest Ninja' written on it, some scrolls that would help him with new techniques and a brand-new shoji set from Choji. He smiled, and put on the shirt. This would save him the time of explaining why things were so troublesome to people. Pocketing the scrolls, he took the shoji set in his arms and made his way up the stairs.

Entering his temporary bedroom, he sat down and opened up the scrolls. They were new shadow techniques; ones he'd only heard of. Acquiring these particular ones took a long time and lots of effort. His admiration for his teammate grew and he made a note to himself to thank her properly the next time he ran into her.

A few minutes later, a certain redhead walked in, carrying a handful of presents. The lazy ninja's heart fluttered as he saw him. Gaara was wearing a flaming red hat that clashed horribly with his hair, but it just made him look more attractive in Shikamaru's eyes.

The lazy ninja raised an eyebrow as the redhead took a seat on his bed, and laid the presents out in front of him. Something red caught his eye and he pulled it out of the small pile. Shikamaru couldn't help but chuckle at what he was holding. It was a small Gaara plushy, complete with the tattoo and gourd.

Looking up, he saw the Kage smiling down at it lovingly. Catching the lazy ninja's eye, he explained, "Kankuro made it. It's similar to his puppets."

Shikamaru smiled as well. For a brief moment, he wanted to snatch the plushy away and keep it for himself. He couldn't help but want it. But he didn't say anything to indicate this fleeting thought.

"He sure is crafty," he agreed.

"Indeed."

"What's this?" Shikamaru pointed at what looked like a small gourd similar to the one the redhead carried.

"Temari thought it would be nice if I had one that carried water."

"Well, it's a much more reasonable size. It'd be troublesome if you had to carry two of them on your back."

Something else caught his eye as he noticed a familiar looking name written on a small piece of paper. "Is that what I think it is?"

Gaara pulled out the little paper from underneath the gourd and nodded, letting the lazy ninja get a good look. "Free ramen coupons from Naruto."

"What a drag. Now he'll be forcing you to have ramen with him."

Gaara nodded and gathered the gifts again to proceed to put them away.

"Wait!" Shikamaru called. "Er…that is…I wanted to see Kankuro's present again."

He felt a deep blush creeping up his cheeks as the plushy was handed to him. The little Gaara had a permanent smirk on its face, which looked kind of like a pout at some angles. Shifting it in his hands, he heard a sloshing, wet, sound. Curious, he squeezed the little plushy.

"Argh!" Out had squirted some water, right onto his face. Wiping his visage with his sleeves, he glared at the little plushy. "Damn Kankuro."

"Hm, so that's what he meant when he said it would be a face full of fun." Gaara said nonchalantly.

Getting an idea, Shikamaru turned the plushy around making it face towards the redhead who was on his way back to the bed and squeezed. Water sprayed all over the redhead's face. The lazy ninja doubled over in laughter at the shinobi's expression.

Gaara snatched the plushy from the boy turned it towards the laughing ninja. Caught off-guard in the middle of his laughter, the boy lost his balance from his seat atop the bed.

"Whoa! Ack!" Shikamaru landed on the floor. But his quick reflexes had made sure to bring his attacker down with him. Gaara landed on top of him, and the two were caught in a compromising position.

And suddenly time froze.

Shikamaru's breath slowed down to a soft pant, and his heart started racing. He could feel the other's breath on him. He gazed into the redhead's clear sky-blue eyes. He was sure the other could feel the strong beating of his heart as the distance between them closed. His breath hitched in his throat as he felt those moist lips connect with his own.

His closed automatically as he lost himself in the feel of the other. They were in their own world, laid out on the floor beside the bed, experiencing each other for the first time and letting their long withheld passion guide them.

It was a soft and gentle kiss, full of passion and meaning. It felt like an eternity that they stayed like that. But it was still too soon when they had to separate, their faces flushed and their breath short. Shikamaru looked away, unsure of what to think. His mind was reeling; for once, he couldn't think, he didn't know what to think.

Feeling the other's eyes on him, he looked back up into glazed eyes. Pure love and compassion was all that shone through. All of the hurt and pain had disappeared. There wasn't even a flicker of fear or uncertainty. It was the first time Shikamaru had seen the redhead with that kind of look in those blue orbs. And he couldn't help but feel the same way.

"That was…" Shikamaru found himself unable at a loss of words.

"Is that what you feel about me?" Gaara asked bluntly, the emotions in his eyes never wavering.

"I…yes…it is…" he replied. "It has been for a while now. H-how about you?"

"Yes."

"Good," the lazy ninja said, leaning up towards the other. He suddenly found himself returning to normal and couldn't help but be overjoyed at the other's response, "Because I want more."

Surprised by his own boldness, he captured the other's lips with his, relaying the passion he felt. This one was just as hot as the other one was gentle. The lazy ninja found the clothes they were wearing very troublesome and cursed the existence of them at the moment. He wanted more! He wanted to touch him! He wanted the skin-to-skin contact he'd been trying to suppress for so long.

"Hey, guys! Look at all the presents I got!" Came the familiar voice of Kankuro as he barged into the room.

It was like lightning the way the two flew apart. Luckily, they were positioned in a way that Kankuro wouldn't see them right away with the bed blocking his view.

Standing up, Shikamaru proceeded to fix his clothes. Kankuro froze at the sight of them. Their flushed faces and short breath led him to the only plausible conclusion. "Were you two fighting?"

"Uh…yeah…so troublesome," the lazy ninja played along, relieved.

"Gaara was actually fighting? I can't wait to tell Temari! " Kankuro said with a grin. "What were you fighting about?"

"You're stupid plushy," his brother replied smoothly. There was still a faint blush across his cheeks although he seemed composed.

"Hey! That took a lot of hard work to make y'know! You're supposed to like it, not break on the first day!" Kankuro exclaimed. "Where's my baby?"

He ran over to the bed, and grabbed a hold of the plushy, examining it carefully for any signs of dysfunction. "Hmph, you're getting off easy this time. Take better care of it! Now, to go find Temari!"

And with a gleeful smile on his face, he vanished out the door, leaving the other two in a more than awkward silence.

"This sure is turning out to be a decent Christmas vacation for once."

"I know what you mean."

* * *

Sasuke had spent the last hour trying to locate the blonde, but to no avail. He knew his house was big, but there was no way the blonde could have hidden from his for that long. He figured the other was just trying to avoid him, so he decided to confront Sakura about it.

He found her in the kitchen along with the rest of the girls baking cookies. What was with girls and baking? He'd never understand.

"Sakura," he called out to her, gaining her attention. She looked up, her hands covered in white flour.

"What is it Sasuke? If you want one, you'll just have to wait like everyone else."

"I don't want any of those blasted cookies, I need to talk to you," he scowled, and then added, "in private."

At hearing this, Ino's head jerked up in surprise. She turned to face the pink-haired kunoichi. "What could you have possibly gotten him that was better than what I got?"

Sakura smirked and, while wiping her hands off on her white apron, she said calmly, "I told you I'd be the one to win him over!"

She scurried out of the kitchen before the other could do anything about.

_Ugh, girls,_ Sasuke groaned, following Sakura out into the corridor.

"What is it?" she asked seriously, thinking something was wrong.

"I found this," he handed her the note.

Reading it over, she recognized it instantly and knew what the raven would ask. Even so, she looked up him, but remained silent.

"Who is he?"

"Why do you care? This is Naruto's business." There was no way she'd give him the answers so easily. She had worked so hard for so long to get the two together and she wasn't going to hand him the answers just like that.

"I found it, and he's my teammate so it's my business as well," he replied back smoothly.

"Is that all he is then?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Of course, what else would he be to me?"

Sakura promptly turned around and started heading back towards the kitchen without another word. If the idiot wouldn't admit it, then he was on his own.

"Wait!" he ran after her, laying a hand on her shoulder.

Expecting this, she grabbed a hold of his arm and flipped him over, knocking him to the ground.

"Ugh! What was that for?"

"It's what you deserve for being so daft!"

He stood up, rubbing his side. He knew there would be a few bruises. "Okay, okay, I get it."

"So."

"So?"

"If you still don't get it, then I'm going back."

"Get what?"

"You still haven't admitted something. And if you don't, I'm not going to tell you anything about this," she said, brandishing the note and waving in his face.

The raven sighed. Damn girls and their women's intuition. It was sure to be the end of him.

"I like him, okay?" He muttered, looking down at the floor. He felt the heat rush to his face as he said the words aloud for the first time.

"There, now that wasn't so hard, was it?" she smiled.

"Are you going to explain anything to me now?"

"What if I say no?" the girl said cheekily.

Sasuke growled, ready to strangle her. If this was all some trick to have him make a fool of himself then he was going to make sure she would suffer a fate worse than Itachi.

"Just kidding!" she yelped, seeing the dangerous look in his eyes. "I'll tell you!"

She took a step back before continuing in a low whisper as though she was conspiring against something. "_He_ is none other than the duck-ass haired bastard who owns this place."

Before the raven could comprehend the information, she gave him a wink and disappeared into the kitchen once again.

It was a few seconds before the Uchiha's lips curved into a smile - a genuine smile. His heart beat rapidly and he felt like shouting out to the whole world his feelings for the blonde. Of course, being the shinobi he was, he couldn't very well do that. So instead, he tried to turn the smile back into his signature smirk and went off to, once again, look for the dobe.

Finding himself running through the corridors once again, he couldn't help but be elated at the fact that the blonde actually returned his feelings!

* * *

Choji, Shino, Kiba and Akamaru were sitting in the living room when the doorbell rang. And rang again. And again.

"Shut up! We're coming! Sasuke, I'm opening the door!" Kiba called out. And without waiting for a reply from the raven, he opened the door revealing their sensei's all standing there under the softly falling snow.

"Hey! Come on in!" Choji greeted.

"Hey guys," Asuma said, stepping inside. "Glad to know you're all having fun."

"Yo!" Kakashi greeted.

"GUYS! THEY'RE HERE!" Kiba hollered up the stairs. He turned back around to look at them but got clobbered by shoe in the head. "Oomph!"

"We can hear you perfectly fine without your incessant yelling!" Tenten yelled at him as she emerged from the kitchen.

"Yeah, well, I just wanted to make sure, isn't that right Akamaru?"

The dog barked loudly in agreement.

"Easy guys, calm down, it's Christmas!" Iruka tried to appease them.

"IRUKA-SENSEI!" Came a loud and obnoxious voice from up the stairs followed by quick footsteps. Soon enough Naruto entered the foyer and enveloped the man with a wide hug.

"Hey there Naruto," Iruka chuckled, trying not to fall over.

"Will you let us all inside now or what? We don't enjoy freezing to death out here!" Tsunade barked.

"TSUNADE-BAA-CHAN!" Naruto attempted to give the woman a hug, but failed as she side stepped away from the oncoming attack.

"You'll have to be quicker than that, brat," she said as she entered the living room, leaving him lying on the floor.

"Poor kid," Jiraiya said, shaking head.

"How ya doing pervy-sage?"

"Don't call me that!" he hissed.

Naruto just rolled his eyes.

"I brought you all something!" Kurenai said as she sat down on one of the couches.

"Awesome! What is it?" Kiba asked eagerly.

"Just some sake. It's customary, right?"

"You brought sake, too? So did I," Asuma said, surprised.

"Me too."

"Same here."

"Alas! The power of youth has brought our minds together! I also brought some!" Gai declared.

"No way! Looks like we're stuck with all this alcohol then," Kakashi said, shrugging.

"We better hide it from Lee, then," Naruto giggled.

"Here, I'll take them," Neiji offered.

"Ha! You wish! Not after what happened the other night!" Naruto cried out, snatching the bottles away from him.

"Oho! What's this I hear? Neiji, what did you do?" Iruka asked, amused.

"He was dead drunk! We were playing truth or dare and he was just…! I don't even know how to describe it!" Kiba tried to explain.

"Nonsense! It is just the innocence of youth that still runs through their veins!" Gai offered in support of his team.

"Whatever you say…" Kurenai muttered under her breath.

"Well, I'm starved! I hope you guys cooked up something good!" The Hokage said.

"Uh…yeah…of course…"

"What's that supposed to mean?" she barked.

"We were just going to order out," Naruto said sheepishly.

"Well then what was the point of us coming here?"

"It's Christmas!" he replied, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I got the phone!" Kiba came over with the phone.

"Idiot! Nothing's open today!" Kurenai explained.

"B-but it's Christmas!"

"Exactly."

"Well, now what?"

"You guys are really daft, y'know?" Sakura sighed, rolling her eyes. "You think we were only baking cookies in there?"

"Well-"

"DOBE!" Naruto turned around at the sound of the voice. "Where the hell where you? I've been looking for you for three hours!"

The blonde saw the Uchiha rush down the stairs and stop in front of him, his face red with anger.

"W-what are you talking about?" Naruto asked cautiously, caught off-guard with the wrath.

"Nice to see you too, Sasuke," said Kakashi.

"What were you doing for the past three hours?" Sasuke demanded, ignoring Kakashi.

"I was in the hot springs! With Choji and Shino!"

"What a wonderful greeting, Sasuke."

"You – what? But – I – you weren't there! I didn't see you!"

"Well, then you're just blind. I saw you pass by there at least six times, Sasuke," Shino said matter-of-factly.

"You're lying."

Shino just shrugged his shoulders.

"Wait, you were in hot springs for three hours? And you didn't turn into prunes?" Asuma asked, shocked.

"It's the Uchiha family's magical spring water!" Naruto explained.

"Can we eat yet?" Tsunade interrupted, her stomach growling.

"Sure! Let's go!"

And so, they all headed towards the kitchen. It was amazing how they all fit there. Of course, there was a lot of pushing and shoving, especially from Kiba, Naruto, Choji, and Tsunade.

"Wow, this is really good!" Asuma exclaimed.

"Can you guess you made it?" Ino asked with a wink.

"You?"

"Nope."

"Then who?"

"Kiba."

"What?"

"Huh?"

"No way!"

"Kiba, you can cook? Naruto asked incredulously.

Said boy shrugged, explaining, "It's what you get growing up with a wolfish sister."

"Amazing!"

"Ah, the wonders of youth!"

"Gai, shut it."

And so continued their little Christmas feast. It was an hour later that they found themselves sitting together and sipping their sake. It was in the midst of their loud discussion, that Sasuke decided he couldn't wait any longer.

"Dobe," the raven poked the blonde in his side.

"What?" the boy growled in return. He still got nervous in the other's presence.

"I need to talk to you."

"Then talk."

"Not here, baka," he scowled.

"Then where?"

"Upstairs," he said. "It's urgent."

"No way, not after the last time when you said all that about what you kept in your closet," he shivered.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "You're stupid. Just follow me." He got up and snuck out of the room seemingly unnoticed.

Naruto groaned and followed suit. Unknown to him, Temari, Shikamaru, Gaara, and Kakashi saw their little exchange and gave each other a perceptive look, all smirking on the inside.

* * *

Naruto opened the bedroom door and found Sasuke inside, pacing the floor.

"What did you want to talk about?" he asked curiously. Inside, he was desperately hoping he wasn't being rejected after all that had happened between the two in the past few days.

"I wanted to give you your Christmas gift."

Naruto's head shot up. "That's right! You owe me a present!"

"So do you, baka," the Uchiha rolled his eyes. He walked over to his closet and opened it, shifting his body so that it would block the blonde's view.

Turning back to face the blonde, he walked over to him, keeping the gift hidden behind him.

"I hope you like it," he said quietly, handing the blonde a box wrapped in gold gift paper.

Naruto cautiously unwrapped it, revealing an album and a smaller box. He opened the album and couldn't help but gasp as he flipped through the pages.

"I – I don't know what to say!" He was truly at a loss for words. The album was full of photos of his parents when they were younger. There were some with the pervy-sage and some with the previous Hokages. Naruto had never seen very many pictures of his parents together and this filled his heart with joy. There was even one that was taken right at his birth, before the sealing of the nine-tails. About half-way through, there were pictures of Naruto from his days at the academy and those from the Chunin exam. The last picture was of himself and Sasuke laughing at some long-forgotten joke.

Tears formed at the corner of his eyes and he looked back up at the raven. "I don't know how I can ever thank you! This is the best thing anyone's ever given me!"

He enveloped the Uchiha into a big hug, wiping his tears on the raven's shirt. Sasuke wrapped his arms around, not sure of what to say. He thought it would be better to just say nothing and let Naruto channel his emotions the way he wanted. When the dobe was done, he sniffled and pulled back, now looking at the other box.

It was fairly small, perhaps only two inches all around. He flipped the lid open on its hinges and gasped once again.

"Sasuke-!"

Inside was the Uchiha family ring. It was made solid black marble, with the Uchiha crest carved into it and painted red. The Uchiha family ring was worn only by the heads of family, and never was it known to be handed out to anyone, even out of respect or gratefulness.

"Dobe, I need to tell you something."

Naruto looked up at him, his eyes full of confusion and wonder at having been given such a priceless artifact.

Sasuke looked down at his feet, and gulped. Now that he was going to say it, he found that he had lost his voice. There was still a flicker of fear within his heart of rejection. He trusted Sakura to the fullest and the two kisses he and Naruto had shared recently were proof enough that his feelings were reciprocal but it was still hard.

"Naruto…I…Iloveyou," he said all in one quick breath. He sighed in relief in having said and cursed the red heat that rushed into his cheeks.

"What? I didn't catch that."

_Stupid dobe, he needs to clean his eyes, I'm not saying it again_, he scowled. Definitely not wanting to say it again, he walked the two steps forward, closing the gap between them and captured the blonde's lips with his own.

He brought his arms around the blonde, one at the small of his back, and letting the other run its course through his fine golden hair. This elicited moans from the boy that Sasuke wished he would be able to hear forever.

Naruto felt a tongue run across his lips, asking for entrance, and gladly gave in. This was the more incredible feeling in the world, and he wanted it to last forever. He felt the Uchiha's emotions melt into him and couldn't be any more elated. Sasuke was his! He was Sasuke's!

Unfortunately for them both, they were forced to separate. Sasuke leaned his head against the blonde's, their foreheads touching. "Did you catch that?"

"Oh yeah," Naruto panted, and gave the raven another quick peck.

"I've wanted to do that for so long. I've wanted _you_ for so long."

"Me too. I'm glad I don't have to hold back any longer," Naruto grinned, his cheeks still flushed.

"Hn."

"Hey, Sasuke…"

"Yeah?"

"I love you too."

Sasuke smiled. It was like angels were singing just for him. That is, if angels even existed.

"But Sasuke," Naruto pouted. "This still doesn't explain the ring."

Sasuke straightened and took the box from the blonde. Opening it, he extracted the ring. Taking Naruto's hand, he carefully slid the ring onto his finger.

"I think that explains everything, don't you?"

"But—Sasuke—this is-!"

"Yes, I know, and I'm prepared to handle all the consequences. However, it does help that I'm the only surviving Uchiha, doesn't it?"

Naruto only nodded dumbly. It wasn't a wedding ring. It was a ring that resembled the strength of their bond. Giving the ring to someone meant that their chakras were tied and they were eternally bound to one another. It was an ancient jutsu passed along the generations of the Uchiha clan. Sasuke had come upon while visiting the old underground tombs.

However, never in the history of the Uchiha clan had the ring been giving to anyone outside of the clan. This meant Naruto was allowed to learn and practice any Uchiha specialist techniques if he wanted to. As well, wearing the ring in public would indicate to everyone that he belonged to Sasuke; emotionally, and physically. And that Sasuke belonged to him.

Naruto glomped the Uchiha and gave him one last wild kiss before running to the other side of the room, yelling, "Close your eyes!"

The raven looked at him in amusement and did as he was told. He heard the sound of clothes being flung across the room and then some crinkling and then Naruto's footsteps as he came to stand in front of him again.

"You can open them now," he said.

When the Uchiha opened his eyes, he found the blonde holding a badly wrapped present in front of him. Raising an eyebrow, Sasuke took it.

"It's nothing really special, but I hope you like it," Naruto said, looking anywhere but at the other.

Sasuke unwrapped the bright orange and green clad present to in front of him a t-shirt, a few coupons and a little sachet. Unfolding the t-shirt, he scowled. It said 'World's grumpiest ninja' in big, bold letters. Looking closer at the coupons, he found them all to be from Ichiraku's Ramen, listing various discounts and deals. He just rolled his eyes. The sachet was what intrigued him the most.

Opening it, his eyes widened at what he saw inside. "Dobe…isn't this…?"

Pulling it out, his thoughts were confirmed. It was the necklace Naruto usually had around his neck; the one Tsunade-sama had given him. "Why?"

Naruto shuffled his feet. "Tsunade-baa-chan told me she gave it to those she loved, to protect them. That's why she gave it to me. I care about you Sasuke, so I thought it was time to pass it on."

Before Naruto could say another word, he felt himself being enveloped by the raven's strong arms. Relaxing into the embrace, he rested his head on the boy's shoulder, bringing his arms up return the hug.

"I love you, dobe."

"I thought you weren't going to admit it."

"Shut up."

"Merry Christmas Sasuke."

"You too, dobe."

* * *

**Well, there you go! Lots of fluff at end, but I hope you enjoyed it! After all, what's Christmas without the fluff, right? **

**I've no idea when the next chapter will be up, but most likely around Christmas time, after I've finished with my stupid exams. Surprised? Did you actually think I'd end it here when there's still so many fun things for the gang to do and for you to read about? Never fear, there are still quite a few chapters left until the end. **

**Review please! I want to hear from all of you! I've missed you all so much! If you have any ideas you'd like to share or something you'd like to see happen in the fic, I'm all ears! (Or, rather, eyes, since I'll be reading it). And remember: if you find an mistakes, please do tell. **

**Until next time! **


	6. UPDATE

**Here's a brief update...**

**Several of you have been asking whether I'm planning on continuing with the story or whether I just forgot about it.**

**I WILL FINISH THE FIC! I've already given you all my word. **

**I actually have the next two chapters written out (on paper). I've been procrastinating a LOT recently, plus I've been busy with school work. I haven't even had time to read any fics over the past five months or so :( HOWEVER, exams are slowly approaching, and once I've finished with them, I'll be sure to get right back on track! **

**Every night before I go to sleep, I always feel guilty about not posting the next chapter(s). I'm really sorry guys. But once exams are finished, I'll be updating regularly. **

**Thanks to everyone who's been reviewing and inboxing me. And to all those who have been waiting patiently. **


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